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EVERYDAY  iHaMM 

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JEAN    SHERWOOD   RANKUJ 


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EYEEYDAY    ENGLISH 

BOOK     ONE 

LANGUAGE    LESSONS 
FOR   INTERMEDIATE    GRADES 


BY 
JEAN    SHERWOOD    RAN^N^.i. 


WITH   A   FOREWORD   BY 

RICHARD    BURTON 

Professor  of  the  English  Language  and  Literature  in  the  University  of  Minnesota 


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EDUCATIONAL   PUBLISHING   COMPANY 
Boston  New  York  Chicago  San  Francisco 


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''    '  t^'  I  \  /  Copyrighted  by 

V"^:      :    .EDUCATIONAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
*     '''  1902 


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FOKEWORD 

The  essential  facts  about  language  offer  a  practical  problem 
rather  than  a  science.  Teaching  should  be  synthetic,  illustrative, 
not  the  harmful  and  apparently  unrelated  analysis  of  the  theory- 
ridden  student. 

The  proper  emphasis  should  be  put  upon  custom,  usage,  in 
all  matters  of  speech.  The  more  mature  the  scholar,  the  more 
should  rules  be  brought  into  the  foreground  and  the  philosophy  of 
language  be  presented ;  whereas  with  younger  students  the  right 
attitude  toward  speech  can  be  largely  inculcated  in  the  vital  way 
of  illustration  and  example,  so  that  the  interest  is  maintained  and 
the  fact  brought  home  to  the  mind  that  what  is  learned  has  an 
organic  relation  to  daily  living.  To  make  good  speech  a  sort  of 
social  obligation  will  impress  a  child  infinitely  more  than  all  the 
abstractions  known  as  rules  of  grammar. 

There  is  no  more  interesting,  even  fascinating  subject  than 
that  of  language  use,  whether  relative  to  the  old  or  young.  Yet 
vital  books  about  language  are  the  exception.  There  seems  to  be 
a  wellnigh  fatal  penalty  attached  to  the  handling  of  such  a  theme ; 
to  wit,  the  dryasdust  manner,  a  lack  of  all  freshness,  color  and 
movement.  This  is  all  the  stranger  since  we  are  all  implicated  in 
the  questions  of  the  use  and  abuse  of  the  mother  tongue  and  no 
topic  is  more  eagerly  discussed  or  awakens  a  more  alert  attention. 
The  little  volume  here  following  contains,  it  seems  to  me,  a 
thoroughly  acceptable  treatment  of  the  principles  of  language  use 
for  the  guidance  of  children. 

KiCHARD  Burton. 
The  University  of  Minnesota , 

Minneapolis,  ^   .  «.  ^  \\\ 

^-45484 


PEEFACE 

To  those  men  and  women,  not  a  few,  educators  in  fact  as  well 
as  name,  who  have  freely  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  this  book, 
by  advice,  by  warning,  and  by  making  experimental  test  of  the 
lessons  and  methods  herein  presented,  a  perpetual  debt  of  obliga- 
tion is  gladly  acknowledged.  In  an  undertaking  plainly  icono- 
clastic, without  constant  cordial  encouragement  from  practiced 
workers  in  the  schoolroom  even  an  unbounded  faith  in  better 
methods  might  have  given  place  to  discouragement.  Altho  the 
educational  press,  representing  the  best  literary  culture  of  the 
United  States,  has  long  demanded  the  divorcing  of  language  from 
grammar  in  our  intermediate  school  grades,  yet  heretofore  no 
book  has  answered  this  demand. 

Aiming  to  become  a  direct  means  toward  the  betterment  of 
our  living  speech,  "Everyday  English"  begs  to  tell  to  you  its 
own  simple  story. 

Jean  Sherwood  Rankin. 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 
May  30,  1902. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Foreword        .         .         .         ... 

ill 

Prefacii 

V 

CHAPTER 

I. 

The  Beginnings  of  Speech 

1 

11. 

First  Words 

8 

III. 

The  Chief  Use  of  Language          .         .         . 

14 

IV. 

Living  Language  and  Its  Law 

20 

V. 

A  Talk  About  Names 

27 

VI. 

Your  Own  Names  ...... 

.       33 

VII. 

Class  Names  and  Individual  Names 

40 

VIII. 

General  and  Special  Terms      .... 

45 

IX. 

Parts  and  Materials  of  Objects    .... 

61 

X. 

On  Memorizing  :  What  and  How     . 

.       56 

XI 

A  Letter  Diary  ....... 

65 

XII. 

A  Poem- Study        ...... 

.       75 

XIII. 

On  Letter  Writing 

83 

XIV. 

On  the  Use  of  Abbreviations    .... 

93 

XV. 

Picture  Words  and  Word  Pictures 

102 

XVI. 

Upon  the  Apostrophe      ..... 

.     Ill 

XVII. 

Our  English  and  Its  Spelling :    The  Use  of  a  Dictior 

lary         118 

XVIII. 

Certain  Troublesome  Words    .... 

.     125 

XIX. 

Upon  Certain  Niceties  of  Speech 

129 

XX. 

Everyday  Errors  and  Their  Cause    . 

.     137^ 

XXI. 

The  Literal  and  the  Figurative    .... 

150 

XXII. 

.     157 

Memory  Gems 

164 

Appendix    ......... 

.     171 

Foi 

Pupils'  Reference  : 

Forms  for  Letters  and  Notes  ..... 

172 

Directions  for  Capitalization        .... 

.     178 

Directions  for  Punctuation       .          .          .          .          . 

181 

List  of  Abbreviations  in  Common  Use 

.     184 

For  Teachers;  Helx>s  and  Suggestions : 

Notes  Upon  Text  of  Lessons  ..... 

187 

Poems  Suitable  for  Pupils'  Reading  or  for  Class  Study 

.     211^ 

In  General 

Fundamental  Truths  Concerning  Language  Work  . 

217 

Incidental  Hints  Upon  Methods 

.     217 

Specific  Suggestions 

222 

School  Libraries  and  Pupils'  Reading 

.     226- 

Index 

229 

vii 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   SPEECH 
AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAT  WITH  CHILDREN 

How  many  words  do  you  suppose  a  child  o£  ten  or  twelve 
years  uses  as  he  has  need  ?  [Guesses.]  No  wonder  you  guess 
far  from  right,  for  only  lately  have  we  begun  to  know  much 
about  this  matter.  Probably  each  one  of  you  knows  about  six 
or  seven  thousand  words.  Yes,  I  said  thousand,  not  hundred. 
You  look  almost  as  if  you  did  not  believe  this.  Then  I  may 
tell  you  that  the  average  two-year-old  child,  if  born  of  intelli- 
gent parents,  uses  about  seven  hundred  different  words.  By 
the  time  he  is  six  months  older  he  uses  about  fourteen  hundred 
different  words  in  all.  Of  course  he  learns  new  words  very 
rapidly  for  the  next  few  years,  and  just  how  many  he  commands 
at  twelve  years  of  age  nobody  yet  knows ;  but  it  is  not  less 
than  the  number  I  gave  you. 

You  really  look  doubtful  yet.  So  I  shall  tell  you  further 
that  one  very  bright  child  on  his  second  birthday  used  over 
eight  hundred  different  words,  and  must  have  known  many 
more  that  he  did  not  use  that  day.  "You  don't  believe  it"? 
Ah,  but  you  must  believe  it,  for  a  man  sat  quietly  by  all  day 
with  pencil  and  paper  and  wrote  down  everything  the  child  said. 
No  wonder  you  are  surprised.     The  man  was  surprised  himself. 


2  ^  ^^  ^  .  .        .,  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

'  ^  A  stiil  more  Wonderful  case  is  that  of  Viola  Olerich. 
This  little  girl  was  adopted  by  a  man  who  wished  to  test  his 
own  ideas  about  teaching.  He  did  not  try  to  select  a  bright 
child,  and  she  was  never  made  to  study.  When  nearly  two 
years  old,  she  knew  about  twenty-five  hundred  different  names ; 
and  when  three  years  old  she  could  read  well  easy  French, 
German,  and  English.  Probably  nearly  all  children  could  do 
as  well  under  similar  conditions. 

Of  course,  you  do  not  use  all  your  words  in  any  one  day, 
nor  in  any  two  days.  But  you  will  believe  that  you  use  a  good 
many  words  in  one  day,  when  I  tell  you  that  children  of  two 
and  one-half  years  babble  away  in  baby-talk  at  the  rate  of 
ten  thousand  words  a  day.  I  for  one  am  glad  that  they  soon 
learn  to  say  less  and  to  think  more.  What  a  noise  we  should 
have,  if  you  should  all  keep  on  chattering  at  that  rate  ! 

Suppose  we  had  no  words  to  talk  with,  what  should  we 
do  then  ?  "  Make  signs,"  you  say.  Yes,  we  could  use  signs, 
to  be  sure ;  but  would  that  be  as  convenient  and  satisfactory  as 
is  the  way  we  have  of  talking  now?  You  do  not  look  quite 
sure  about  this,  so  suppose  you  try  for  one  recess,  or  for  one 
meal  at  home,  to  use  only  a  sign  language.  How  many  will 
try  ?  You  may  tell  in  class  tomorrow  how  you  liked  this  sort 
of  language. 

Perhaps  no  one  has  ever  told  you  that  long,  long  ago,  our 
very  remote  forefathers,  who  were  savage  men  living  in  caves 
and  using  implements  of  stone,  talked  to  one  another  wholly  by 
gestures  and  grimaces.  Slowly,  very  slowly,  they  began  to  use 
sounds  also  for  certain  objects  and  actions,  and  to  combine 
words  with  gestures.  Then  as  they  gained  more  and  more 
words,  they  had  less  and  less  use  for  signs,  which  at  last  were 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  3 

dropped.  Thus  gesture  language  passed  slowly  into  voice 
language,  and  this  has  grown,  till  it  is  like  an  immense  tree  with 
thousands  of  branches  and  millions  of  leaves. 

Suppose  that  a  family  of  very  young  children,  even  two  or 
three  in  number,  were  to  be  left  orphans  in  some  climate  where 
fruits  and  roots  and  warm  sunshine  should  all  combine  to  save 
them  from  perishing ;  would  these  children  gradually  make  a 
new  language  for  themselves  ?  You  "  think  they  would ;  "  and 
you  think  right.  Some  very  wise  men  believe  that  just  in  this 
way  have  grown  up  the  wholly  different  languages  spoken  by 
the  tribes  of  Indians  in  our  western  states. 

But  suppose  one,  only  one  very  young  child  were  to  be  left 
forever  alone,  would  he,  do  you  think,  make  himself  a  language, 
even  of  signs  ?  You  shake  your  heads  as  if  a  little  in  doubt. 
Why  would  he  not  do  so  ?  "  Because  he  has  no  one  to  talk 
with,"  you  reply.  I  see  you  are  ready  now  to  tell  me  why 
language  has  grown.  "  Because  men  wished  to  say  things  to  one 
another,"  you  answer.  That  is  a  good  reason  and  the  true  one, 
altho  it  is  not  the  only  one  for  our  using  language  today. 

How  is  it  that  children  quickly  come  to  know  so  many 
words?  "Thru  their  ears,"  you  say.  Very  true,  so  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  you  all  have  good  ears.  Do  you  know  what  a 
deaf-mute  is  ?  A  child,  as  bright  as  any  one  of  you,  perhaps, 
who  cannot  hear  words  and  so  cannot  learn  to  speak  them. 
Could  you  have  learned  to  talk,  if  you  had  been  born  deaf  ? 
Are  you  not  glad  that  a  way  has  been  found  to  teach  all  forms 
of  language  to  deaf-mutes  ? 

Sometimes  a  child  who  is  growing  deaf  rapidly  is  sent  to  a 
school  where  he  is  to  be  taught  to  "  read  the  lips."  Can  you 
do  this  ?     Try  at  recess  to  see  whether  or  not  you  can. 


4  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Another  question  :  Do  animals  have  language  ?  Is  it  like 
ours  ?  When  the  dog  "  begs,"  does  he  use  a  language  ?  When 
the  pony  went  alone  to  the  blacksmith  to  have  a  foot  shod,  did 
he  use  language?  Just  what  is  the  difference  between  their 
language  and  ours  ?  You  say,  "  They  have  no  words."  That 
is  it :  not  one  new  word  has  yet  been  made  by  all  the  animals 
that  have  ever  lived.  What  1  did  one  little  girl  say  her  kitty 
says  "  Mew  "?  True,  but  this  sound  is  the  whole  of  kitty's 
language,  and  is  not  a  word.  Our  words  meio  and  how-wow 
do  sound  much  like  the  sounds  they  name,  but  I  think  you 
will  not  mistake  one  for  the  other. 

One  thing  more  :  what  greater  reason  have  we  today  for 
wanting  to  know  all  about  words  than  did  those  first  people  who 
had  to  begin  language  ?  We  "  want  to  read  books,"  you  say. 
Ah,  yes ;  we  all  want  to  read  as  well  as  talk,  and  so  we  need  to 
know  all  the  good  English  words  we  possibly  can  and  just  how 
they  are  used.  Our  English  language  is  full  of  beautiful  and 
wonderful  things,  and  no  other  study  brings  us  more  pleasure 
than  does  this  one  about  words  and  their  use  in  good  speech. 

I  give  you  here  stories  showing  communication  between 
dogs,  and  examples  of  parrot-talk  : 

A  gentleman  of  wealth  and  position  kept  a  number  of  dogs,  among 
them  a  very  large  mastiff  and  a  Scotch  terrier.  At  the  close  of  one  of 
his  summers  in  the  country,  he  resolved  to  bring  this  terrier  with  him  to 
London.  There  being  no  railway,  the  dog  traveled  with  the  servants  in  a 
post-carriage,  and,  on  his  arrival  at  the  town-house,  was  brought  out  to 
the  stable,  where  a  large  Newfoundland  dog  was  kept  as  watch-dog.  The 
latter  was  not  pleased  by  the  intrusion;  and  consequently  the  Scotch 
terrier  had  not  been  very  long  in  his  new  home  when  this  canine  master 
of  the  stable,  in  the  language  of  human  beings,  gave  him  a  sound 
thrashing. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  5 

The  little  animal,  of  course,  could  never  hope  by  himself  to  chastise 
his  host  for  this  inhospitable  welcome ;  he  passed  the  night  in  a  remote 
corner,  but  in  the  morning  could  not  be  found.  On  the  third  morning 
after  his  disappearance,  however,  he  again  appeared,  but  this  time  not 
alone ;  for,  to  the  amazement  of  every  one,  he  entered  the  stable  attended 
by  the  big  mastiff  from  Kent. 

This  great  brute  had  no  sooner  arrived  than  he  flew  at  the  Newfound- 
land dog,  who  had  so  badly  treated  his  little  friend,  and  a  severe  contest 
ensued,  which  the  little  terrier  himself,  seated  at  a  short  distance,  viewed 
with  the  utmost  dignity  and  satisfaction.  The  result  of  the  battle  was 
that  the  mastiff  gave  his  opponent  a  tremendous  beating ;  and  when  he 
had  quite  satisfied  himself,  this  great  avenger  from  Kent  scarcely  waited 
t-o  receive  the  recognition  of  his  master,  who  had  been  sent  for  immedi- 
ately on  his  arrival,  but  at  once  marched  out  of  the  stable,  to  the  door  of 
which  the  little  terrier  accompanied  him,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

Some  few  days  afterward,  however,  the  gentleman  received  a  letter 
from  his  steward  in  the  country,  informing  him  of  the  sudden  appearance 
of  the  terrier  there,  and  his  as  sudden  disappearance  along  with  the  large 
mastiff ;  and  stating  that  the  latter  had  remained  away  three  or  four  days, 
during  which  they  had  searched  in  vain  for  him,  but  that  he  had  just  then 
returned  home  again.  It  then,  of  course,  became  quite  clear  that  the  little 
dog,  finding  himself  unable  to  punish  the  town  bully,  had  thought  of  his 
' '  big  brother  "  in  the  country,  had  traveled  over  the  sixty  miles  which 
separated  them  in  order  to  gain  his  assistance,  and  had  recounted  to  him 
his  grievance ;  it  was  plain  also  that  the  mastiff  had  consented  to  come 
and  avenge  his  old  friend,  had  traveled  with  him  to  London,  and,  having 
fulfilled  his  promise,  had  returned  home,  leaving  the  little  fellow  free  from 
annoyance  in  the  future. 

Condensed  from  "  Helping  a  Friend,'*  in  JohonnoVs  "  Olimpses  of  the  Animate  World."  * 

A  few  years  ago,  I  was  the  owner  of  one  [a  parrot]  which  we  named 
"  Poll,*'  to  distinguish  her  from  '*  Polly,"  our  other  pet.  She  had  lost  her 
beauty  by  a  scald  on  the  head,  and  never  possessed  the  winning  ways  of 
her  companion.  She  would,  indeed,  say,  when  the  reason  of  her  bald 
pate  was  asked,  "  I've  been  scalded;  "  and  whenever  a  bald-headed  gentle- 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  American  Book  Company. 


6  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

man  entered  the  room,  she  shouted  to  him,  "  You've  been  scalded,"  and 
then,  turning  to  her  friends  would  cry  out,  "He's  been  scalded!"  She 
could  cry,  "  Hip,  hip,  hurrah !  three  cheers  for  the  queen !"  could  sing  and 
dance  to  the  tune  of  "Polly,  put  the  kettle  on,  we'll  all  have  tea;"  and 
would  ask  very  peremptorily  for  her  meals,  "  Thomas,  fetch  my  dinner  — 
Poll's  hungry !" 

She  had  one  singular  trait :  she  caught  everybody's  laugh.  I  never 
noticed  the  peculiarity  of  laughs  in  my  family  until  ' '  Poll "  began  to  simu- 
late them.  From  the  feminine  giggle  to  the  masculine  guffaw  —  from  the 
boisterous  laugh  of  the  children  to  the  titter  of  the  housemaid,  catching 
the  gamut  of  every  member  of  our  household,  even  to  the  suppressed  hic- 
cough of  James  the  footman,  whose  good  English  breeding  allowed  only 
the  slightest  demonstration  of  any  sentiment  whatever — "Poll "would 
deliver  by  the  hour  a  series  of  laughs,  which,  amusing  enough  at  first, 
made  her  imitations  at  last  an  intolerable  nuisance.  When  she  once 
began,  nothing  would  stop  her.  Indeed,  when  attacked  by  a  gout  that 
ended  her  life,  her  very  last  breath  shaped  itself  into  a  giggle.     .     . 

Whether  it  is  possible  entirely  to  eradicate  bad  habits  in  parrots  is 
doubtful.  Captain  Simpson  used  to  duck  his  paroquet  in  the  sea  every 
time  it  swore  an  oath.  The  creature  really  connected  an  oath  with  a 
dowse  in  the  water,  and  gave  up  swearing.  One  day,  in  a  furious  storm, 
a  man  was  washed  overboard,  and  with  great  difficulty  was  recovered.  As 
soon  as  he  was  drawn  on  deck,  "  Polly"  kept  hopping  around  the  circle, 
shaking  her  head  from  side  to  side,  and  saying  gravely,  "  You've  been 
swearing!  you've  been  swearing!" 

A  gentleman  residing  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  owns  an  Amazon 
parrot.  It  possesses  a  fluency  and  variety  of  language  rarely  equalled  by 
the  African  gray.  As  soon  as  her  master  returns  from  the  office  for 
dinner,  Polly  begins  to  salute  him  in  fondest  expressions:  "Papa,  dear, 
come  and  kiss  your  pretty  green  beauty !  Come  in,  come  in,  papa,  and 
give  us  a  kiss,  and  a  thousand  more!"  When  the  footman  enters  the 
room,  she  says  to  him,  but  never  to  anyone  else,  "Fetch  my  dinner, 
James  —  I'm  hungry.  Stupid  fellow!  I  can't  eat  my  head  off!"  To  a 
bachelor  friend,  who  frequently  spends  several  weeks  at  the  house,  Polly 
has  but  one  question,  never  put  to  any  one  else :  "  Oh,  you  gay  deceiver, 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  7 

why  did  you  promise  to  marry  me,  and  didn't?"  To  a  gentleman,  a 
near  neighbor,  whom  she  had  once  overheard  saying,  at  the  after-dinner 
table,  "The  bird's  invaluable;  five  hundred  dollars  would  not  buy  her, 
if  I  owned  her  —  would  it,  Polly  ?  "  she  always  addresses  the  salute  the 
moment  he  appears,  "Five  hundred  dollars  would  not  buy  Polly,  if  you 
owned  her!  Five  hundred  dollars!  Five  hundred  dollars!  Why,  the 
bird's  invaluable !" 

This  Wilmington  parrot  certainly  discriminates  between  the  sexes 
and  between  conditions  in  life.  To  a  well-dressed  young  gentleman  the 
remark  is,  "  What  a  get-up  !  What  a  swell  you  are  !"  To  a  young  lady, 
on  the  contrary,  fondling  and  kissing,  she  says,  with  great  deference, 
"  Is  she  not  nice?  —  so  nice  !"  Whereas,  to  a  clergyman,  who  is  detected 
by  his  dress,  she  is  exceedingly  offensive,  perpetually  calling  out,  "  Let 
us  pray !"  "  Glory  be  to  God !"  "  Amen !  "  She  was  once  lost,  stayed 
out  over  night,  and  grief  and  searches  ruled  the  disconsolate  household. 
At  daybreak,  however,  a  workman,  going  to  his  job,  was  hailed  by  Polly, 
from  a  pile  of  bricks,  with  the  call,  "  Take  me  home  !  Take  me  home !" 
Whether  the  night-chilled  bird  did  or  did  not  attach  meaning  to  the  words, 
it  is  certain  that  the  workman  did,  and  that  he  made  a  good  thing  of 
bringing  her  home.     I  know  of  no  gray  parrot  that  has  excelled  this. 

Condensed  from  "  Talking  Birds "  by  N.  S.  Bodge,  in  JohonnoVs 
**  Oimpses  of  the  Animate  World."* 

EXERCISES 

T.  Oral :  A  conversation  lesson  in  which  each  pupil 
shall  tell  any  story  he  knows  illustrating  the  use  of  language 
among  animals. 

II.  Suggested  Supplementary  Work :  A  reading  lesson, 
assigned  for  some  future  date,  in  which  pupils  may  read  short 
selections  found  by  themselves,  illustrating  the  language  of 
bees,  ants,  wasps,  birds,  cats,  dogs,  horses,  monkeys,  elephants, 
or  other  animals. 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  American  Book  Company. 


CHAPTEE   II 

FIRST    WORDS 

Who  will  tell  today  how  you  got  on  using  only  a  gesture 
language  ?  [Discussion.]  You  say  that  you  could  beckon  and 
could  shake  your  fists;  you  could  show  anger  and  likes  and 
dislikes.  You  could  show  desires,  and  affection  for  your 
friends.  I  wish  you  now  to  tell  something  that  you  could  not 
show  by  signs.  [Discussion.]  I  see  you  all  agree  that  most 
of  the  things  learned  at  school  could  not  be  told  by  gesture 
language. 

Will  you  think  for  a  moment  about  the  way  in  which 
colored  lights  are  used  to  signal  trains?  Do  you  call  this  a 
language  ?  You  know  that  ships  say  many  things  by  means  of 
flags,  and  the  weather  bureau  tells  us  by  flags  also  what  the 
weather  will  probably  be.  What  is  peculiar  in  all  these  systems 
of  signals?  You  say  that  "they  are  all  planned  beforehand." 
You  are  right :  they  all  say  a  few  things  which  are  arranged 
beforehand.     So  these  codes  of  signals  are  not  languages. 

On  the  whole,  I  judge  that  you  do  not  care  to  return  to 
the  sign  language.  I  hope,  however,  that  you  will  now  feel  a 
deeper  interest  in  the  natural  sign  language  used  by  your  baby 
brothers  and  sisters.  Some  babies  who  are  slow  in  learning 
words,  manage  to  say  a  very  great  deal  by  their  paiitomimes  of 
signs. 

Can  you  tell  me  whether  the  makers  of  a  language  would 
first  make  words  for  things  seen,  or  for  things  not  seen  ?     You 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  9 

all  say  "for  things  seen."  No  one  doubts  this;  and  we  are 
sure  that  actions  that  could  be  seen  and  objects  that  could  be 
seen  and  felt  and  tasted  would  be  given  names  first  of  all.  In 
just  this  way,  the  babies  in  your  homes  today  understand  and 
first  learn  names  for  things  they  see  and  hear  and  taste  and 
touch. 

Do  you  know  how  a  baby  a  little  over  a  year  old  usually 
begins  to  talk?  Will  you  watch  some  of  these  babies  and 
write  out  their  speeches,  so  that  they  can  be  looked  at  in  class  ? 

This  is  the  way  one  baby-girl  talked  the  day  she  was 
twenty  months  old  :  "  Bottle-bottle-bottle ;  baby-baby-baby 
book ;  lamb-lamb  ;  book  ;  toad-lamb  ;  want-want ;  bottle  ;  cow 
dog ;  pat ;  lamb-lamb  ;  Papa ;  Dick-Dick-Dick ;  lamb-lamb 
bow-wow,  bow-wow  ;  little-little ;  lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb- 
lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb-lamb ;  bow-wow ;  Dick-Dick; 
write  ;  boy-boy-boy ;  Dick  ;  baby-baby-baby-baby ;  doll ; 
eye— eye  ;  want— want ;  warm— warm— warm— warm— warm— warm- 
warm  ;  bow-wow ;  doll-doll ;  poor ;  lamb-lamb-lamb ;  Dick- 
Dick  ;  lamb-lamb  ;  Dick-Dick  ;  lamb-lamb  ;  eye-eye  ;  write- 
write-write  ;  pat-pat-pat-pat  ;  water-water  ;  pillow-pillow  ; 
there-there-there-there-there  ;  little-little-little-little-little  ; 
pin-pin-pin-pin-pin-pin-pin-pin-pin  ;  there ;  wash-wash- 
wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash  -  wash- 
wash  ;  baby-baby  ;  hand-hand-hand ;  bye-bye-baby ;  pull-pull ; 
away-away-away-away-away-away-av/ay-away-away  ;  wash- 
wash  ;  away-away."  *" 

You  will  notice  that  all  of  this  chatter  was  chiefly  the 
repeating  to  herself  of  single  words  meaning  some  one  thing. 
Not  every  child  first  talks  in  this  way,  but  you  will  find  that 

*  From  "Psychological  Studies  No.  1,"  by  Professor  Harlow  Gale. 


10  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

most  children  do.  Sometimes,  they  manage  to  say  a  good  deal 
with  single  words  alone.  This  is  the  way  one  baby  talked  with 
three  words.  He  wanted  the  man  John  to  give  the  dog  Jack  a 
biscuit.  He  said  :  "  John  !  —  Jack  !  —  biscuit !  "  and  John 
understood  and  Jack  got  the  biscuit. 

I  hope  you  speak  good  English  to  your  baby  brothers  and 
sisters.  We  should  not  forget  that  babies  must  learn  over 
again  all  words  that  are  first  learned  incorrectly.  All  baby-talk 
is  pretty  in  babies,  but  if  kept  up  by  a  whole  family  as  is  some- 
times done,  the  poor  baby  has  a  slow  and  hard  time  in  learning 
to  talk  well. 

You  do  not  very  often  need  to  make  names  now,  for  they 
are  ready  made  for  your  use.  In  fact,  there  are  so  many  at 
hand  that  it  is  often  hard  to  choose  one.  Here  is  a  little  poem 
showing  just  this  thing  : 

Choosing  A  Name 

I've  a  new-born  baby  sister, 

I  was  nigh  the  first  that  kissed  her 

When  the  nursing-woman  brought  her 

To  papa  —  his  infant  daughter ! 

And  papa  has  made  the  offer, 

I  shall  have  the  naming  of  her. 

Now  I  wonder  what  would  please  her  — 
Charlotte,  Julia,  or  Louisa? 
Ann  and  Mary,  they're  too  common; 
Joan's  too  formal  for  a  woman ; 
Jane's  a  prettier  name,  beside ; 
But  we  had  a  Jane  that  died. 
They  would  say,  if  'twas  Rebecca, 
That  she  was  a  little  Quaker. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  11 

Edith's  pretty,  but  that  looks 

Better  in  old  English  books : 

Ellen's  left  off  long  ago ; 

Blanche  is  out  of  fashion  now. 

None  that  I  have  named  as  yet 

Are  so  good  as  Margaret. 

Emily  is  neat  and  fine ; 

What  do  you  think  of  Caroline  ? 

How  I'm  puzzled  and  perplexed 

What  to  choose  or  think  of  next ! 

I  am  in  a  little  fever 

Lest  the  name  that  I  should  give  her 

Should  disgrace  her  or  defame  her  — 

I  will  leave  papa  to  name  her ! 

Mary  Lamb, 

Which  names  were  thought  too  common?  Which  one 
was  out  of  fashion  ?  Which  is  a  beautiful  old  English  name  ? 
Which  one  means  the  same  as  Jane  ?  Did  you  pronounce  it  in 
one  syllable  as  you  ought  here  ?  Do  you  know  what  Margaret 
means  ?  Which  one  seemed  to  be  best  suited  to  a  Quaker 
baby  ?  Could  you  choose  a  name  for  a  baby  more  quickly  than 
this  child  did  ?  I  hope  you  pronounced  papa  properly.  This 
poem  was  written  by  an  English  lady,  and  in  England  all  people 
say  mamma  and  papa.  Here  in  our  country,  especially  in  the 
West,  it  is  more  common  to  say  m.dmma  and  papa ;  so  both 
ways  are  right.  But  it  is  important  to  read  the  lines  here  as 
the  writer  wrote  them,  else  you  spoil  the  rhythm,  or  regular 
flow  of  the  verse.  Listen  to  your  own  voice  as  you  read  the 
lines,  pronouncing  papa  first  one  way  and  then  the  other. 
Which  way  reads  most  easily  and  smoothly?  Mary  Lamb,  of 
course,  said  papa.     The  story  of  Mary  Lamb's  life  is  most  sad 


12  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

and  dreadful,  yet  beautiful.  Perhaps  you  can  find  someone  who 
will  tell  you  about  it,  or  you  may  hunt  it  up  in  your  school 
library.  Her  story  is  also  the  story  of  a  brother's  love.  If  you 
will  learn  that  story  quite  fully,  one  of  you  may  tell  it  to  the 
class  some  day. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Mental:  Decide  for  yourselves  which  you  like  the 
better,  the  poem  by  Mary  Lamb,  or  these  rimes  by  a  later 
writer.  Can  you  give  any  reason  for  your  preference  ?  Do 
not  try  to  decide  after  a  single  reading.  What  name  was  the 
favorite  one  in  both  cases? 

How  They   Named  the    Baby  * 

They  talked  of  Medora,  Aurora,  and  Flora, 

Of  Mabel  and  Marcia  and  Mildred  and  May ; 
Debated  the  question  of  Helen,  Honora, 
/  Clarissa,  Camilla,  and  Phyllis  and  Fay. 

They  thought  of  Marcella,  Estella,  and  Bella ; 

Considered  Cecilia,  Jeanette,  and  Pauline ; 
Alicia,  Adela,  Annette,  Arabella, 

And  Ethel  and  Eunice,  Hortense  and  Irene. 

One  liked  Theodora,  another  Lenora ; 

Some  argued  for  Edith  and  some  for  Elaine, 
For  Madeline,  Adeline,  Lilly,  and  Lora ; 

And  then,  after  all,  they  decided  on  —  Jane. 

*  Copyrighted  by  Judge  Company  and  published  by  permission  of  Judge. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  18 

II.  Oral :  Tell  the  story  of  your  own  first  name,  after 
learning  from  your  parents  how  you  came  to  have  it. 

III.  Oral :  Give  the  history  of  the  names  of  your  State, 
county,  and  city,  after  learning  all  you  can  about  these  from 
persons  who  can  inform  you. 

IV.  Written:  If  there  is  a  younger  child  in  your 
family,  write  the  story  of  "  Naming  the  Baby."  If  there  is 
not,  write  "  Naming  My  Dog  "  or  "  Naming  My  Doll." 


*  Prelude 

Words,  words, 
Ye  are  like  birds. 
Would  I  might  fold  you, 
In  my  hands  hold  you 
Till  ye  were  warm  and  your  feathers  a-flutter ; 
Till,  in  your  throats, 
Tremulous  notes 
Foretold  the  songs  ye  would  utter. 

Words,  words. 
Ye  are  all  birds ! 
Would  ye  might  linger 
Here  on  my  finger. 
Till  I  kissed  each,  and  then  sent  you  a-winging 
Wild,  perfect  flight. 
Through  morn  to  night. 
Singing  and  singing  and  singing ! 

Josephine  Preston  Peabody. 

♦From  •' The  Wayfarers,"  and  reprinted  by  permission   of  the  publishers, 
Small,  Maynard  &  Company. 


CHAPTEK   III 

THE    CHIEF   USE    OF   LANGUAGE 

You  have  said  that  you  wish  to  know  words  so  that  you 
may  read  and  may  talk  with  your  friends.  There  is  another 
reason  lying  back  of  these,  a  reason  greater  than  all  others. 
You  might  not  guess  it,  so  I  shall  tell  you.  We  need  language 
in  order  to  think.  Until  you  have  a  word,  or  name,  for  an 
object,  you  can  only  think  of  that  object  by  means  of  a  mind 
picture.  It  would  be  a  very  slow  and  hard  way  of  thinking  if 
we  had  to  wait  to  make  a  mind  picture  for  every  word  we  use. 
Of  course,  we  could  do  a  little  slow  thinking  in  this  way ;  but, 
without  language,  we  could  not  have  risen  above  our  own  dogs 
and  horses. 

You  can  see  how  this  is,  if  you  recall  again  the  child  born 
deaf.  Perhaps  for  years  he  may  be  considered  an  imbecile, 
while,  in  fact,  all  he  needs  to  arouse  him  to  mind  life  is  the  gift 
of  words.  Words  are  the  tools  with  which  he  thinks.  With  the 
first  word  he  learns,  he  begins  a  new  act  which  will  end  only 
when  he  dies.  He  has  left  his  mind-picture  life  and  has  begun 
a  life  of  thought.  You  can  see  that  every  new  word  with  its 
meaning  gives  him  more  power  to  think.  Even  if  he  never 
learns  to  speak,  his  chance  for  happiness  has  largely  increased 
with  this  new  power.  To  think  is  of  itself  a  power,  and  to 
learn  to  think  clearly  is  the  highest  and  best  object  of  our 
study  of  English.     When  you  come  to  writing,  the  all-import- 

14 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  15 

ant  thing  is  that  you  write  as  you  think.  Then  your  writing 
will  breathe  with  the  breath  of  your  own  life. 

No  one  has  trouble  in  speaking  or  in  writing  clearly  if  he 
but  think  clearly.  Do  you  not  see,  then,  that  unless  you  know 
words  with  which  to  think, —  many  words,  good  words,  all  sorts 
of  words, —  so  that  you  may  think  all  sorts  of  things  exactly  as 
you  wish  to  say  them,  you  can  never  carry  your  own  thoughts 
clearly  or  well  to  the  minds  of  other  people  ?  So,  we  may  say, 
the  aim  of  your  study  of  English  is  to  give  you  command  of 
your  mother  tongue,  to  the  end  that  you  may  think  clearly  and 
be  happy.  Yes,  I  mean  just  that.  It  is  real  joy,  real  happi- 
ness, to  think.  To  sit  in  the  room  of  your  own  soul  and  think 
beautiful  thoughts  is  one  of  the  greatest  joys  on  earth.  You 
may  be  your  own  best  guest,  if  you  have  your  mind  made 
ready  to  entertain  yourself.  Then  seize  all  new  words  as  if 
they  were  bits  of  gold,  and  hold  them  for  your  very  own ;  for 
every  one  gives  you  more  power  to  think.  Put  them  into  the 
strong  bank  of  your  mind,  and  your  mind  will  pay  you  interest 
on  them  as  surely  as  if  they  were  real  gold. 

In  this  English  language  you  were  born  and  reared ;  in  it 
you  read  and  talk  and  buy  and  sell  and  marry  and  die ;  and  all 
your  life  long,  you  may  praise  God  in  it  and  for  it,  and  chiefly 
because  you  learn  to  think  thru  it.  Ah,  yes,  it  is  a  noble 
language ;  there  is  no  better  on  earth.  Then  decide  now  to 
make  it  more  and  more  your  own  day  by  day. 

Perhaps  you  will  understand  all  this  more  thoroly  if  I 
tell  you  the  story  of  a  child  who  could  never  have  learned  to 
think  without  the  gift  of  words. 

Helen  Keller  was  born  June  27,  1880.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  months,  she    lost  entirely,  as    the  result    of  a  severe 


16  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

fever,  the  senses  of  sight  and  hearing.  She  was  thus  cut  off 
from  the  language  of  the  seeing  and  hearing  world,  which  is 
written  for  the  eye  and  spoken  for  the  ear,  but  has  no  native 
form  for  the  sense  of  touch  alone. 

The  mind  of  the  untaught  deaf-mute  is  in  about  the  same 
condition  as  that  of  the  child  before  it  has  learned  speech.  Up 
to  seven  years  of  age,  Helen  Keller  lived  very  much  such  a  life 
as  a  beautiful  household  pet  might  live,  which  had  no  means  of 
communication  with  its  owners.  At  this  age  a  teacher  was  pro- 
vided for  her.  Here  is  Helen  Keller's  own  account  of  their 
first  work  together.  You  can  read  the  whole  story  (written 
when  she  was  twelve  years  old )  in  the  YoutKs  Companion  for 
January  4,  1894. 

The  morning  after  teacher  came,  I  went  to  her  room.  .  .  .  She 
gave  me  a  beautiful  doll.  .  .  .  Then  teacher  took  my  hand  and 
slowly  made  the  letters  d-o-1-1  with  her  fingers,  at  the  same  time  making 
me  touch  the  doll.  Of  course  I  did  not  know  the  motions  meant  letters, 
I  did  not  know  what  letters  were ;  but  I  was  interested  in  the  finger-play 
and»tried  to  imitate  the  motions,  and  I  think  I  succeeded  in  spelling  doll 
in  a  very  little  while.  Then  I  ran  down  stairs  to  show  my  new  doll  to 
my  mother,  and  I  am  sure  she  was  surprised  and  pleased  when  I  held  up 
my  little  hand  and  made  the  letters  for  doll. 

That  afternoon,  besides  doV.,  I  learned  to  spell  pin  and  hat;  but  I 
did  not  understand  that  everything  has  a  name.  I  had  not  the  least  idea 
that  my  finger-play  Avas  the  magical  key  that  was  to  unlock  my  mind's 
prison  door  and  open  wide  the  windows  of  my  soul. 

Teacher  had  been  with  us  nearly  two  weeks,  and  I  had  learned 
eighteen  or  twenty  words,  before  that  thought  flashed  into  my  mind,  as 
the  sun  breaks  upon  the  sleeping  world ;  and  in  that  moment  of  illumina- 
tion the  secret  of  language  was  revealed  to  me,  and  I  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  beautiful  country  I  was  to  explore. 

My  teacher  had  been  trying  all  the  morning  to  make  me  understand 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  17 

that  the  mug  and  the  milk  in  the  mug  had  different  names ;  but  I  was 
very  dull,  and  kept  spelling  milk  for  mug  and  mug  for  milk,,  until 
teacher  must  have  lost  all  hope  of  making  me  see  my  mistake.  At  last 
she  got  up,  gave  me  the  mug,  and  led  me  out  of  the  door  to  the  pump- 
house.  Some  one  was  pumping  water,  and  as  the  cool,  fresh  stream  burst 
forth,  teacher  made  me  put  my  mug  under  the  spout  and  spelled  w-a-t-e-r, 
water ! 

That  word  startled  my  soul  and  it  awoke,  full  of  the  spirit  of  the 
morning,  full  of  joyous,  exultant  song.  Until  that  day  my  mind  had  been 
like  a  darkened  chamber,  waiting  for  words  to  enter  and  light  the  lamp, 
which  is  thought.  I  left  the  pump-house  eager  to  learn  everything. 
.  .  .  I  learned  a  great  many  words  that  day,  I  do  not  remember  what 
they  all  were ;  but  I  do  know  that  mother,,  father^  sister,  and  teacher  were 
among  them.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  a  happier  little  child 
than  I  was  that  night  as  I  lay  in  my  crib  and  thought  over  the  joy  that 
the  day  had  brought  me,  and  for  the  first  time  longed  for  a  new  day  to 
come.  ...  I  was  never  angry  after  that,  because  I  understood  what 
my  friends  said  to  me,  and  I  was  very  busy  learning  many  wonderful 
things.     .     . 

I  was  never  still  during  the  first  glad  days  of  my  freedom.  I  was 
continually  spelling  and  acting  out  words  as  I  spelled  them.  I  would 
run,  skip,  jump,  and  swing,  no  matter  where  I  happened  to  be.  Every- 
thing I  touched  seemed  to  quiver  with  life.  It  was  because  I  saw  every- 
thing with  the  new,  strange,  beautiful  sight  which  had  been  given  me. 


Three  years  later  she  heard  about  the  deaf  and  Wind 
Norwegian  child,  Ragnhild  Kaata,  who  had  been  taught  to 
speak ;  and  she  resolved  that  she  also  would  learn  vocal  speech. 
In  this  she  has  succeeded  very  well. 

You  may  be  interested  to  know  that  she  had  parents  able 
to  give  her  every  advantage.  She  has  had  at  her  side  in  the 
classroom  in  school  a  devoted  teacher  who  has  spelled  into  her 
hand   the  words  of   the    instructor  3    and    some    of    her    other 


18  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

teachers  learned  to  read  to  her  with  the  hand.  She  has  had 
very  many  books  printed  in  raised  letters  for  her  own  use,  and 
she  has  had  various  sorts  o£  typewriting  machines,  one  of  them 
being  for  Greek  and  one  for  algebra.  At  seventeen,  she  took 
the  preparatory  examinations  for  Radcliffe  College,  passing  in 
German,  French,  Latin,  English,  Greek  and  Roman  history. 
In  German  and  English  she  received  '^  honors  "  for  especially 
fine  work.  Two  years  later,  at  nineteen,  after  a  year  of  rest 
and  a  year  of  study,  she  passed  triumphantly  the  examinations 
for  entrance  to  Radcliffe  College,  which  are  the  same  as  those 
given  for  entrance  to  Harvard.  She  wrote  in  elementary  and 
advanced  Greek,  advanced  Latin,  algebra,  and  geometry ;  passed 
in  all,  and  "  with  credit "  in  advanced  Latin. 

If  a  girl  without  eyes  or  ears  such  as  you  possess  can  do 
this,  what  cannot  seeing  and  hearing  boys  and  girls  accomplish 
if  they  have  the  will  to  do  f 

I  shall  give  you  one  more  selection  of  her  own,  an  extract 
from  her  diary  written  when  she  was  thirteen  years  old : 

Dear  Diary :  —  Today  is  the  thirteenth  of  October,  1893,  and  I  have 
some  very  pleasant  news  for  you.  My  studies  began  today,  and  I  am 
very,  very  glad.  I  study  Arithmetic,  Latin,  History,  Geography,  and 
Literature.  I  am  glad,  because  I  want  to  learn  more  and  more  about 
everything  in  this  beautiful,  wonderful  world.  Every  day  I  find  how  little 
I  know ;  for  I  catch  glimpses  on  all  sides  of  treasures  of  history,  lan- 
guage, and  science, —  a  beautiful  world  of  knowledge, —  and  I  long  to  see 
everything,  know  everything,  and  learn  everything.  I  do  not  feel  dis- 
couraged when  I  think  how  much  I  have  to  learn,  because  I  know  the  dear 
God  has  given  me  an  eternity  in  wliich  to  learn  it. 

I  used  to  say  I  did  not  like  Arithmetic  very  well,  but  now  I  have 
changed  my  mind ;  for  I  see  what  a  good,  useful  study  it  is.  It  helps  me 
to  think  clearly  and  logically  and  strengthens  my  mind  in  many  ways.     I 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  19 

try  to  be  very  calm  and  patient  now  when  the  examples  seem  very  hard, 
but  sometimes  in  spite  of  my  great  effort  to  keep  my  mind  in  the  right 
place,  it  will  flatter  like  a  little  bird  in  a  cage  and  try  to  escape  into  the 
pleasant  sunshine ;  for  nice  and  useful  as  Arithmetic  is,  it  is  not  as  inter- 
esting as  a  beautiful  poem  or  a  lovely  story. 

Latin  is  a  very  beautiful  language,  and  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to 
speak  and  read  much  of  it  when  I  go  home  next  Spring.  Already  I  begin 
to  feel  better  acquainted  with  the  grand  old  heroes  of  Rome,  since  I  know 
a  little  of  the  language  in  which  they  thought  and  talked  so  long  ago. 

I  love  Literature  and  History  too,  because  they  teach  me  about  the 
great  things  that  have  been  thought  and  dreamed  and  achieved  in  the 
world,  and  help  me  to  understand  how  the  law  of  good  worketh 
incessantly, 

' '  Without  halting,  without  rest ; 
Planting  seeds  of  knowledge  pure. 
Through  Earth  to  ripen,  through  Heaven  endure." 

From  ''Helen  Keller  Souvenir  No.  2  " published 
by  the  Volta  Bureau,  Washington^  D.  C,  and 
cited  by  permission. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Mental :  Imagine  yourself  a  child,  or  a  deaf-mute, 
who  had  never  heard  the  word  horse,  yet  who  had  seen  a  horse 
many  times.  Now  try  to  imagine  how  you  would  have  thought 
the  idea,  horse,  without  any  word  to  name  that  idea. 

II.  Oral,  and  then  Written :  Have  you  ever  come  into 
contact  with  any  other  language  than  your  own  ?  When  and 
where  ?     How  did  it  sound  to  you  ?     Relate  your  impressions. 


She  spoke  not ;  but,  so  richly  fraught 
With  language  are  her  glance  and  smile. 

That,  when  the  curtain  fell,  I  thought 
She  had  been  talking  all  the  while. 

Frances  Sargent  Osgood. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LIVING   LANGUAGE   AND   ITS    LAW 

I  told  you  that  language  had  grown  till  it  is  somewhat  like 
an  immense  tree.  Now  a  tree,  even  one  of  the  evergreen  sort, 
keeps  putting  out  new  leaves  and  branches  from  year  to  year, 
while  some  of  its  old  twigs  and  leaves  die  or  get  broken  off. 

This  is  just  what  every  living  language  does.  It  adds  new 
words  every  year  and  it  loses  others.  It  changes  the  manner  in 
which  some  of  its  words  are  used,  and  the  form  and  the  mean- 
ing of  other  words.  New  words  and  forms  of  speech  pass  from 
mouth  to  mouth  and  from  ear  to  ear,  till  presently  they  creep 
into  written  speech  also,  and  then  they  must  be  put  into  the 
newest  dictionaries.  The  last  edition  of  Webster's  International 
(dated  1900)  contains  25,000  more  words  and  phrases  than  the 
preceding  edition.  Many  of  these  words  came  in  with  the 
Cuban  and  Philippine  wars.  Others  have  been  made  purposely 
by  men  of  science  to  name  new  things. 

So,  you  see,  it  is  really  the  spoken  word  in  our  language 
that  throbs  with  life  as  if  it  were  the  strong  heart  of  a  great 
animal.  Once  let  the  spoken  word  cease,  and  growth  and 
change  would  cease  also  and  our  language  would  soon  die. 
Certain  languages,  as  the  Greek  and  the  Latin,  are  called  dead. 
This  is  just  because  they  cannot  now  grow  or  change  with  the 
changing  use  of  men,  since  they  are  no  longer  spoken  by  any 
living  people.  That  is,  they  are  now  merely  fixed  forms, 
neither  gaining  new  words  nor  losing  old  ones.     They  have  no 


s  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  21 

further  use  in  the  world  except  upon  the  printed  page.  You 
may  liken  them  to  pressed  flowers,  or  to  the  rich,  dark  wood  of 
old  furniture,  or  to  pearls  and  ivory,  all  of  which  were  once 
parts  of  living  growths. 

These  languages  died  because  new  people  with  a  new 
speech  came  into  the  place  of  the  elder  race.  They  would  have 
been  wholly  lost  to  the  world  had  they  not  been  preserved  for 
centuries  in  old  manuscripts.  These  languages  are  not  rich  in 
words  as  compared  with  our  own  English.  For  over  a  thousand 
years  they  have  stood  still  while  man  and  civilization  have  gone 
on  together.  Then  you  can  easily  see  how  the  whole  of  a  dead 
language  could  not  possibly  tell  the  story  of  one  day  of  our 
modern  life  and  thought.  A  day, —  no,  not  even  of  an  hour 
or  minute.  A  dead  language  may  have  all  the  beauty  of  old 
marbles  and  fossils  ;  but  it  no  longer  breathes  with  the  breath 
of  man's  life. 

We  need  not  fear  that  our  own  language  will  die,  so  long 
as  men  speak  more  than  they  write  and  think  more  than  they 
speak.  Moreover,  it  is  quite  probable  that  English  may  yet  be 
the  language  of  the  world.  It  is  certain  that  it  is  more  widely 
used  today  than  any  other  language.  You  may  be  glad  that 
you  were  born  to  speak  a  simple  and  easy  tongue  like  English, 
rather  than  the  far  more  difficult  Russian  or  the  altogether 
dreadful  Chinese.  English  is  the  most  simple  of  all  modern 
languages.  It  has  dropped  almost  all  unnecessary  forms,  and  it 
is  always  making  changes  which  tend  to  make  it  still  more 
simple. 

And  yet,  altho  simple,  our  language  is  rich  in  words  with 
which  you  may  express  every  possible  shade  of  thought.  You 
may   often   have   the   choice    of  half  a  dozen   or   more   words 


22  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

for  the  same  idea,  each  differing  from  the  rest  by  some  slight 
shade  of  meaning.  Such  words  are  called  synonyms^  and  give 
us  one  hint  as  to  why  and  how  we  may  wisely  study  words. 

In  your  study  of  words  you  will  need  for  constant  refer- 
ence the  best  dictionary  you  can  possibly  afford.  But  do  not 
fancy  that  the  chief  use  of  the  dictionary  is  to  tell  you  the 
pronunciation  of  words.  It  is  important  to  have  a  refined  and 
accurate  pronunciation,  but  it  is  much  more  important  to  think 
noble  thoughts  and  to  have  sufficient  words  at  command  where- 
with to  express  those  thoughts. 

It  is  easy  to  make  rules  for  a  dead  language,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  make  fixed  rules  for  a  living  language.  The 
only  certain  rule  for  all  times  and  all  cases  is  this :  ^Qhserve 
the  best  use.  Or,  in  other  words,  we  say.  Use  is  the  law  of 
language.  This  does  not  mean  your  use,  or  my  use,  or  the  use 
of  any  one  person,  but  the  continued  use  of  the  people  as  a 
whole. 

To  show  you  how  this  law  works,  I  may  tell  you  that  use 
has  given  many  words  a  new  life.  That  is  to  say,  a  word  may 
have  seemed  dead  and  gone  out  of  use,  or  obsolete,  when,  all 
at  once,  it  has  been  called  back  to  new  life  by  the  touch  of  a 
loving  hand  or  the  sound  of  a  living  voice.  So,  we  see,  it  was 
not  really  dead  after  all.  You  will  find  many  words  in  the 
dictionary  marked  obsolete.  Remember  that  this  does  not 
mean  that  they  are  surely  dead. 

A  matter  determined  by  use  is  the  method  of  our  capitali- 
zation and  punctuation.  No  two  persons  agree  exactly  in  these 
matters,  yet  all  follow  certain  general  rules.  When  the  use  of 
our  best  writers  seems  to  vary,  one  is  at  liberty  to  consult  his 
own  taste.J)  At  all  events,  every  one  should  follow  some  one 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  23 

method  and  be  consistent  with  himself.  He  may  not  do  one 
way  today  and  another  tomorrow. 

Our  very  best  modern  books  and  magazines  are  printed 
with  great  care,  and  furnish  a  good  field  for  observation  of  the 
use  of  our  best  writers. 

The  printing-press  has  done  much  to  fix  forms  and  to 
establish  uniform  use  everywhere,  and  our  dictionaries  have 
determined  the  spelling.  We  may  be  glad  that  we  usually  have 
only  one  way  to  spell  a  word,  even  if  it  be  not  always  the  best 
way.  In  the  legends  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  hero  Dietrich  von 
Bern  had  his  name  spelled  in  eighty-five  different  ways ;  and 
Shakspere's  name  in  his  own  day  was  spelled  in  thirty  dif- 
ferent ways. 

If  you  will  consult  the  large  dictionaries,  you  may  see  how 
the  form  of  English  has  gradually  changed  since  the  time  when 
it  began  to  be  written  at  all.  Remember  that  our  English  of 
today  is  a  very  modern  language,  only  about  six  hundred  years 
old.  To  show  you  how  different  it  has  been  from  your  own 
speech,  I  give  you  here  an  example  of  English  as  written  three 
hundred  fifty  years  ago  by  the  teacher  of  a  learned  and 
unfortunate  princess : 

And  one  example,  whether  love  or  feare  doth  worke  more  in  a  childe, 
for  vertue  and  learning,  I  will  gladlie  report ;  which  male  be  hard  with 
some  pleasure,  and  folowed  with  more  profit.  Before  I  went  into 
Germanic,  I  came  to  Brodegate  in  Lecetershire,  to  take  my  leave  of  that 
noble  Ladie  Jane  Grey,  to  whom  I  was  exceding  moch  beholdinge.  Hir 
parentes,  the  Duke  and  the  Duches,  with  all  the  houshould.  Gentlemen  and 
Gentlewomen,  were  huntinge  in  the  Parke :  I  founde  her,  in  her  Chamber, 
readinge  Phaedon  Platonis  in  Greeke,  and  that  with  as  moch  delite,  as  som 
jentleman  wold  read  a  merie  tale  in  Bocase.     After  salutation,  and  dewtie 


24  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

done,  with  som  other  taulke,  I  asked  hir,  whie  she  wold  leese  soch  pastime 
in  the  Parke  ?  smiling  she  answered  me :  I  wisse,  all  their  sporte  in  the 
Parke  is  but  a  shadoe  to  that  pleasure,  that  I  find  in  Plato :  Alas  good 
folke,  they  never  felt,  what  trewe  pleasure  ment.  And  howe  came  you 
Madame,  quoth  I,  to  this  deepe  knowledge  of  pleasure,  and  what  did 
chieflie  allure  you  unto  it :  seinge,  not  many  women,  but  verie  fewe  men 
have  atteined  thereunto?  I  will  tell  you,  quoth  she,  and  tell  you  a  troth, 
which  perchance  ye  will  mervell  at.  One  of  the  greatest  benefites,  that 
ever  God  gave  me,  is,  that  he  sent  me  so  sharpe  and  severe  Parentes,  and 
so  jentle  a  scholemaster.  For  when  I  am  in  presence  either  of  father  or 
mother,  whether  I  speake,  kepe  silence,  sit,  stand,  or  go,  eate,  drinke, 
be  merie,  or  sad,  be  sowyng,  plaiying,  dauncing,  or  doing  anie  thing  els, 
I  must  do  it,  as  it  were,  in  soch  weight,  mesure,  and  number,  even  so 
perfitelie,  as  God  made  the  world,  or  else  I  am  so  sharplie  taunted,  so 
cruellie  threatened,  yea  presentlie  some  tymes,  with  pinches,  nippes,  and 
bobbes,  and  other  waies,  which  I  will  not  name,  for  the  honor  I  beare 
them,  so  without  measure  misordered,  that  I  thinke  my  selfe  in  hell,  till 
tyme  cum,  that  I  must  go  to  M.  Elmer,  who  teacheth  me  so  jentlie,  so 
pleasantlie,  with  soch  faire  allurementes  to  learning,  that  I  thinke  all  the 
tyme  nothing,  whiles  I  am  with  him.  And  when  I  am  called  from  him,  I 
fall  on  weeping,  because,  what  soever  I  do  els,  but  learning,  is  ful  of 
grief,  trouble,  feare,  and  whole  misliking  unto  me :  And  thus  my  booke, 
hath  bene  so  moch  my  pleasure,  and  bringeth  dayly  to  me  more  pleasure 
and  more,  that  in  respect  of  it,  all  other  pleasures,  in  very  deede,  be  but 
trifles  and  troubles  unto  me.  I  remember  this  talke  gladly,  both  bicause 
it  is  so  worthy  of  memorie,  and  bicause  also,  it  was  the  last  talke  that 
ever  I  had,  and  the  last  tyme,  that  ever  I  saw  that  noble  and  worthie 
Ladie. 

From  "-The  School  Master"  by  Eager  Ascham 
{died  1568). 

You  may  feel  added  interest  in  this  pathetic  story  if  know- 
ing that  it  concerns  a  princess  scarcely  out  of  girlhood,  who 
was  called  queen  for  a  day,  and  then,  with  her  equally  youthful 
husband,  was  beheaded,  a  victim  to  the  ambitions  of  others. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  25 

EXERCISES 

I.  Writte7i:  Copy  upon  the  school  typewriter,  or  with 
your  pen,  a  lively  conversation  of  not  less  than  fifteen  lines, 
selected  from  the  pages  of  some  recent  magazine  or  from  a 
story  book.  Be  sure  that  the  sentences  are  short.  Be  ready  to 
write  the  same  from  dictation  if  asked  to  do  so.  Be  accurate 
in  the  use  of  capitals  and  punctuation  marks,  noticing  just  how 
these  are  used. 

II.  Oral :  By  discussion  in  class  determine  and  formulate 
a  few  very  simple  rules  for  the  most  common  use  of  (1)  the 
capital,  (2)  the  period,  (3)  quotation  marks,  (4)  the  exclamation 
point,  and  (5)  the  hyphen.  Use  Exercise  I  as  a  basis  for 
making  the  rules. 

III.  Mental:  Consult  the  reading  books  used  in  your 
school  and  decide  whether  they  observe  these  rules. 

IV.  Suggested  Oral  or  Mental:  With  the  selection 
about  Lady  Jane  Grey  before  your  eyes,  spell  as  we  spell  today 
every  word  there  not  in  modern  form.  Notice  where  modern 
use  would  insert  quotation  marks. 

V.  Mental  and  Oral :  Compare  the  following  examples, 
and  observe  the  different  forms  used  today  in  writing  titles  of 
books,  of  poems,  of  articles,  and  of  periodicals  (magazines  and 
newspapers).  You  will  often  have  occasion  to  write  such 
names  in  your  school  exercises.  Determine  by  vote  which 
forms  you  will  adopt  as  a  class ;  and  remember  to  make  your 
work  uniform  on  these  points. 

The  Youth's  Companion,  Scrihner's  Magazine,  Harjyer's 
Monthly,  North  American  Review  and  Arena  use  this  style : 

I  have  read  ' '  Robinson  Crusoe' '  and  the  last  number  of  iSt.  Nicholas. 


26  EVERYDAY    ENGLISH 

The  Bookman : 

I  have  read  Robinson  Crusoe  and  the  last  number  of  St.  Nicholas. 

The    Atlantic    (whose   pages    illustrate     the    beauty    of 
simplicity) : 

I  have  read  Robinson  Crusoe  and  the  last  number  of  St.  Nicholas. 

The  Century,  St.  JVicholas,  and  Outlook : 
I   have   read    "Robinson    Crusoe "  and   the   last   number   of  "St. 
Nicholas." 

The  Nation  and  the  Popular  Science  Monthly : 

I  have  read  '  Robinson  Crusoe '  and  the  last  number  of  St.  Nicholas. 

Most  periodicals  agree  in  writing  the  names  of    ships  in 
italics ;  as,  "  We  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  the  Lucania^ 


' '  The  Snowing  of  the  Pines  "  * 

Softer  than  silence,  stiller  than  still  air, 

Float  down  from  high  pine-boughs  the  slender  leaves. 

The  forest  floor  its  annual  boon  receives 

That  comes  like  snowfall,  tireless,  tranquil,  fair. 

Gently  they  glide,  gently  they  clothe  the  bare 

Old  rocks  with  grace.     Their  fall  a  mantle  weaves 

Of  paler  yellow  than  autumnal  sheaves 

Or  those  strange  blossoms  the  witch-hazels  wear. 

Athwart  long  aisles  the  sunbeams  pierce  their  way ; 

High  up,  the  crows  are  gathering  for  the  night ; 

The  delicate  needles  fill  the  air ;  the  jay 

Takes  through  their  golden  mist  his  radiant  flight ; 

They  fall  and  fall,  till  at  November's  close 

The  snowflakes  drop  as  lightly  —  snows  on  snows. 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson. 
*  Keprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 


CHAPTER  V 

A   TALK    ABOUT   NAMES 

Even  when  we  are  grown,  our  speech  must  still  be  made 
up  very  largely  of  names  for  things  that  may  or  may  not  be 
seen.  For  this  reason,  we  shall  spend  some  time  in  considering 
different  kinds  of  names.  Most  names  stand  for  objects  that 
you  may  picture  in  the  mind.  Shut  your  eyes  and  observe 
whether  you  have  some  sort  of  mind  picture  as  I  name  very 
slowly  to  you  certain  things  you  all  know : 

A  rose  ;  —  a  boat ;  —  a  tree  ;  —  a  cloud  ;  —  a  cat ;  —  a 
dog ;  —  a  horse  ;  —  a  mouse.  I  see  by  your  faces  that  you  did 
make  mind  pictures  of  these  things.  Some  of  you  probably 
had  clear  and  distinct  pictures ;  others  perhaps  had  rather 
vague  or  indistinct  ones.     [Discussion.] 

You  will  not  need  to  consider  now  all  classes  or  sorts  of 
names,  for  it  would  take  too  long.  Nor  do  I  ask  you  to  write 
all  the  names  you  can  think  of  in  certain  classes,  v  J[f  I  did,  you 
would  never  be  done  writing.  Your  geography,  your  history, 
and  your  reading  books  are  full  of  names  of  people  and  of 
places.  Then,  too,  all  the  persons  you  know,  and  all  the 
objects  you  can  think  about,  have  their  own  particular  names ; 
and  new  names  also  for  new  things  must  be  often  made. 

In  fact,  each  one  of  you  may  be  known  by  a  score  or  more 
of  names.  You  are  Americans,  citizens,  persons,  children, 
pupils,  sons  or  daughters,  nephews  or  nieces  perhaps,  and  pos- 
sibly you  are  students  also.     I  hope  that  in  time  some  of  you 

27 


28  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

may  even  become  scholars.  If  you  are  members  of  any  society, 
or  church,  or  if  you  have  regular  occupations,  you  will  also 
have  a  name  from  each  of  these  sources. 

Then  you  each  have  one  or  more  Christian,  or  given, 
names  as  well  as  a  surname.  3ur  means  over  or  above.  All 
surnames  were  once  given  over  or  above  the  baptismal  name,  so 
called  because  it  was  usually  given  in  connection  with  some 
ceremony  of  the  Christian  church.  All  surnames  once  showed 
a  man's  occupation,  his  estate,  his  place  of  living,  some  particu- 
lar event  with  which  he  was  connected,  some  personal  peculi- 
arity, or  perhaps  the  given  name  of  the  founder  of  the  family. 
Thus  the  names  ending  in  kin  show  what  the  founder  of  the 
family  was  called,  since  kin  was  an  early  English  word  for 
little.  The  children  of  Thomas  became  Tompkins ;  of  Simon 
became  Simpkins ;  of  Timothy  became  Timkins  ;  of  Walter, 
Watkins ;  of  Peter,  Perkins,  etc.  You  will  be  interested  to 
learn  the  meaning  of  many  of  our  most  common  names,  as 
Smith,  Wright,  Bailey. 

Somewhat  as  Wilkins  shows  a  little  Will,  so  does  Johnson 
show  the  son  of  John ;  MacDonald,  the  son  of  Donald ;  Fitz- 
hugh,  the  son  of  Hugh ;  O'Neill,  the  grandson  of  Neill.  The 
Russian  ending  witz  and  the  Polish  sky  also  mean  son  of. 
And  so  also  the  de,  von,  and  van^  in  French,  German,  and 
Dutch  names  show  an  estate  thru  their  meaning  of. 

We  are  apt  to  think  that  Mac  belongs  only  to  Scottish 
names,  but  the  following  old  rime  teaches  you  the  real  fact  : 

By  Mac'  and  O'  you'll  always  know 

True  Irishmen,  they  say ; 
But  if  they  lack  both  0'  and  Mac', 

No  Irishmen  are  they. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  29 

You  may  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the  Welsh  ap,  also 
meaning  son  of,  may  be  used  many  times  in  the  same  name ; 
hence  a  Welsh  surname  may  recite  the  names  of  all  one's  ances- 
tors and  become  one  of  the  longest  words  in  language. 

There  is  an  old  story  of  an  Englishman  who  did  not 
know  of  this  use  of  ap,  who  was  riding  after  dark  near  a 
ravine  from  which  issued  a  cry  for  assistance  from  one  who 
had  fallen  in. 

"  Who's  there  ?  "  shouted  the  Englishman. 

"  Jenkins-ap-Grifiith-ap-Williams-ap-Rees-ap-Evan-ap- 
Robin,"  came  the  reply. 

"  Lazy  fellows,  half  a  dozen  of  you,  why  can't  you  help 
each  other  out?"  exclaimed  the  Englishman,  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  addressing  but  one  man. 

An  easy  way  to  show  descent  has  been  much  used  by  the 
Welsh,  and  gives  us  many  of  our  commonest  names.  Thus 
Williams  means  William  s,  as  we  would  now  write  it ;  Jones 
means  John's  ;  so  also  Harris  and  Hughes, 

The  following  lines  suggest  in  charming  manner  why  some 
man  may  have  first  received  the  name  Nightingale  : 


Somewhere  in  the  years  behind, 
When  men's  names  were  first  assumed — 
Tinker  Tom  or  John  the  Smith, 
Handier  to  travel  with  — 
Somebody  was  this  assigned : 
Nightingale.     Belike  there  bloomed 
On  his  cheek  the  badge  of  health, 
And  he  had,  instead  of  wealth, 
Music  for  his  gift,  could  sing. 
Play  the  fiddle,  lead  the  folk 


30  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Down  the  jolly  dancing-ring  ; 
Make  them  thus  forget  their  yoke, 
In  some  village     .      .      .     long  ago. 
Merry  lad,  who  far  and  wide 
Up  and  down  the  country  side 
Piped  before  the  people  so. 
Thus,  the  name  bespoke  the  man. 

From  "  Exit  Nightingale"  by  Bichard  Burton.* 

Evidently,  Charles  Lamb  felt  some  curiosity  as  to  how  his 
own  name  had  first  been  bestowed,  as  you  will  see  from  these 
lines : 

On  His  Family  Name 

What  reason  first  imposed  thee,  gentle  name? 
Name  that  my  father  bore,  and  his  sire's  sire. 
Without  reproach ;  we  trace  our  stream  no  higher  ; 
And  I,  a  childless  man,  may  end  the  same. 
Perchance  some  shephard  on  Lincolnian  plains, 
In  manners  guileless  as  his  own  sweet  flocks. 
Received  thee  first  amid  the  merry  mocks 
And  arch  allusions  of  his  fellow  swains. 
Perchance  from  Salem's  holier  fields  returned. 
With  glory  gotten  on  the  heads  abhorred. 
Of  faithless  Saracens,  some  martial  lord 
Took  His  meek  title,  in  whose  zeal  he  burned. 
Whate'er  the  fount  whence  thy  beginnings  came, 
No  deed  of  mine  shall  shame  thee,  gentle  name, 

Charles  Lamb. 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  Small,  Maynard  &  Company. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  31 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral,    and    then    Written :      Make    lists    of    names 

showing : 

1.  relationship,  SiS  father; 

2.  office  or  membership,  as  mayor; 

3.  occupation,  as  cook; 

4.  water,  as  rivulet; 

5.  land,  as  plain; 

6.  relation  to  a  town,  as  street; 

7 .  surnames  of  people  you  know ; 

8.  feelings,     actions,    or    powers,    as    love^    growth, 

memory; 

9.  qualities  of  persons,  as  kindness; 

10.  good  or  bad  character,  as  thief; 

11.  Indian  origin,  as  Mississippi; 

12.  surnames  telling  something  about  the  first  persons 

who  used  them,  as  Smith. 

II.  Oral :  Discuss  number  twelve,  and  rearrange  it,  clas- 
sifying into  four  parts,  showing : 

1.  occupation,  as  Baker,  Wagner  (wagoner)  ^  Naylor ; 

2.  location,  or  estate,  as  Atwood,  Field; 

8.     personal  peculiarity,  or  an  event,  as  Longfellow; 
4.     descent,  as  all  names  in  sow,  kin,  etc. 

Note  :  Each  one  of  you  should  begin  now  the  keeping  of  a  wordbook,  in 
which  you  may  preserve  in  permanent  form  your  studies  upon  words.  A  note- 
book has  been  prepared  for  this  purpose,  called  Pupil's  Wordbook,  or  Helper 
Number  One.  The  pages  are  ruled  specially  for  these  exercises.  If  you  do  not 
procure  one  of  these,  get  a  blankbook,  and  with  your  teacher's  assistance  rule  it, 
from  day  to  day,  as  the  exercises  demand.  Put  into  your  wordbook  the  work 
assigned  to  it.  Always  copy  work  into  your  wordbooks  only  after  careful  correc- 
tions, based  upon  approval  by  your  teacher  or  discussion  in  class. 

III.  Writte7i :  Copy  into  the  pages  provided  for  this 
purpose  in  your  wordbooks  the  corrected  results  obtained  from 


32  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

the  work  of  Exercises  I  and  II.  Add  new  names  as  found 
from  time  to  time,  keeping  Exercise  II  well  classified. 

IV.  1.  Written :  List  the  Indian  names  of  your  own 
State,  with  the  meaning  of  each.  Copy  these  upon  the  page 
provided  in  your  wordbooks. 

2.  Oral:  Discuss  these  in  class,  considering  which  are 
the  most  musical  in  sound  and  the  most  beautiful  in  meaning. 


Roses'  Song 


Softly  sinking  through  the  snow, 
To  our  winter  rest  we  go, 
Underneath  the  snow  to  house 
Till  the  birds  be  in  the  boughs, 
And  the  boughs  with  leaves  be  fair, 
And  the  sun  shines  everywhere. 

Softly  through  the  snow  we  settle. 

Little  snowdrops  press  each  petal. 

Oh,  the  snow  is  kind  and  white, — 

Soft  it  is,  and  very  light ; 

Soon  we  shall  be  where  no  light  is. 

But  where  sleep  is,  and  where  night  is, — 

Sleep  of  every  wind  unshaken. 

Till  our  Summer  bids  us  waken.  ^ 

Philip  Bourke  Marston. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

YOUR   OWN   NAMES 

Nearly  all  children,  whether  grown  up  or  not,  like  to  know 
the  meaning  of  their  own  names.  They  usually  like  also  to 
know  what  forms  their  names  have  in  other  languages.  For 
this  reason,  we  shall  spend  a  little  time  in  studying  Christian,  or 
given,  names. 

The  shortened  form  of  your  first  name,  often  ending  in 
ie  or  y,  is  called  a  diminutive,  or  nickname.  The  better  term 
is  diminutive  ;  for  we  also  use  nickname  with  a  very  different 
meaning.  Diminutives  are  usually  shortened  forms  used  as 
family  or  pet  names,  and  are  not  always  suitable  for  general 
use.  Nicknames  are  given  most  often  outside  one's  own  family, 
and  are  not  always  complimentary.  However,  we  all  would  like 
to  be  known  by  such  a  nickname  as  "Honest  Abe,"  or  by  that 
given  to  Alfred  the  Great,  "  England's  Darling." 

Fashions  prevail  in  giving  names  as  well  as  in  most  other 
things.  Sometimes  a  new  and  popular  book  or  play  makes  an 
odd  name  fashionable  for  a  while.  Once  used,  it  is  almost  sure 
to  be  repeated. 

At  one  time  it  was  customary  to  bestow  upon  babies  the 
diminutive  form  of  a  name.  At  present  it  is  again  more 
common  to  use  the  formal  and  dignified  full  names,  reserving 
diminutives  for  the  most  intimate  and  personal  use  of  one's 
dearest  friends.  So  we  find  now  again  everywhere  the  exact 
and  beautiful  old  pames  us^d  by  our  great-grandparents. 

33 


84  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

It  is  also  customary  now  to  give  a  boy  as  first  name 
some  surname  that  belongs  in  the  family  of  his  father  or 
mother.  Especially  common  is  it  to  find  an  oldest  son 
called  by  his  mother's  surname.  In  some  families,  the 
mother's  surname  is  used  as  a  middle  name  by  all  the  chil- 
dren. This  custom  has  many  conveniences,  but  is  not  in 
general  use. 

We  have  adopted  into  our  English  speech  the  Christian 
names  of  nearly  every  known  tongue.  To  show  you  how 
many  forms  a  name  may  take,  I  have  selected  one  for  you  to 
consider  in  detail. 

Charles  :  an  old  German  name. 

Meaning:  strong,  manly,  noble-spirited. 

Diminutive :  Charlie  or  Charley. 
Latin  Italian      Spanish  and  Portuguese     French  German 

Carolus         Carlo  Carlos  Charles         Carl  or  Karl 

Remarks  :  The  name  Charles  has  been  borne  by  many  emperors,  kings,  and 
princes,  thruout  the  countries  of  Europe.  Greatest  of  these  was  the  famous 
emperor  Charlemagne  (Charles  the  Great)  or  Charles  I  of  France. 

The  name  Charles  also  belongs  to  a  river  in  Massachusetts  which  has  been 
made  especially  famous  by  the  great  writers  living  near  its  banks.  See  Long- 
fellow's poem  to  the  River  Charles. 

Here  you  have  five  names  all  coming  from  the  old  German 
Charles,  But  this  is  not  all,  for  each  of  these  names  has  a 
form  for  women ;  so  that  we  get  also  the  names  Caroline, 
Carlotta,  Carlota,  and  Charlotte,  If  you  turn  to  Common 
English  Christian  Names  in  the  dictionary,  you  will  find  the 
various  forms  for  the  names  Caroline  and  Charlotte,  each  of 
which  is  used  as  widely  as  is  Charles.  The  diminutives  Carrie, 
Caddie,  Lottie,  and  Lina  are  all  used  more  or  less  also,  so  you 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  35 

will  find  in  all  about  a  dozen  names  for  women  growing  out  of 
this  one  name  Charles. 

Altho  not  all  of  us  have  names  as  beautiful  in  meaning 
as  Charles  and  its  derivatives,  still,  every  one  may  make  his 
own  name  mean  all  good  things  to  the  friends  who  think  of 
him  by  it.  Some  men  have  given  a  good  or  a  bad  name  to  all 
who  are  like  them.  If  I  say,  '^  Better  be  an  Andre  than  an 
Arnold,"  you  understand  me  as  well  as  if  I  should  say,  "  Better 
die  a  patriot  than  live  a  traitor."  Here  we  use  Andre  and 
Arnold  as  class  names  for  all  men  who  are  of  the  same  kinds 
as  themselves.  To  have  a  "  good  name  "  in  the  very  best  sense 
is  possible  to  every  one. 

It  is  so  interesting  to  notice  how  a  certain  class  of  diminu- 
tives came  to  be  used,  that  I  think  you  will  never  forget,  having 
once  been  told.  The  use  of  mine  before  Edward,  Oliver, 
Annie,  and  Ellen  gave  the  forms  Ned,  Noll,  Nan,  and  Nell, 
You  can  easily  see  how  the  n  grew  fast  to  the  name  in  its 
shortened  form.  The  very  word  nickname  illustrates  this  sort 
of  change ;  for  an  ekename  {eke :  the  same)  became  misdivided 
a  nekename ;  and  this  finally  grew  into  nickname.  Perhaps 
you  can  find  other  examples  of  this  same  change.  I  wonder 
whether  you  could  have  guessed  that  Terry  and  Tracey  are 
diminutives  of  Theresa,  or  that  Casey  is  a  diminutive  of 
Catherine.  If  you  once  become  interested  in  Christian  names, 
you  will  constantly  discover  new  and  interesting  things  about 
them. 

This  chapter  is  headed  "  Your  Own  Names."  I  wish  that 
you  would  consider  as  your  own,  in  a  broad  but  very  true 
sense,  the  Indian  names  left  as  a  precious  inheritance  by  the 
unfortunate  natives  whose  rivers  and  lakes  and  prairies  we  now 


36  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

call  our  own.     The  poem  I  give  you  here  voices  the  feeling  of 
one  who  realized  the  hard  fate  of  that  early  race. 

Indian  Names 

Ye  say  they  all  have  passed  away, 

That  noble  race  and  brave  ; 
That  their  light  canoes  have  vanished 

From  off  the  crested  wave  ; 
That  'mid  the  forests  where  they  roamed, 

There  rings  no  hunter's  shout ; 
But  their  names  are  on  your  waters, 

Ye  may  not  wash  them  out. 

They're  where  Ontario's  billow 

Like  ocean's  surge  is  curled, 
Where  strong  Niagara's  thunders  wake 

The  echo  of  the  world. 
Where  red  Missouri  bringeth 

Rich  tribute  from  the  West, 
And  Rappahannock  sweetly  sleeps 

On  green  Virginia's  breast. 

Ye  say  their  cone-like  cabins. 

That  clustered  o'er  the  vale, 
Have  fled  away  like  withered  leaves 

Before  the  autumn  gale  ; 
But  their  memory  liveth  on  your  hiUs, 

Their  baptism  on  your  shore, 
Your  everlasting  rivers  speak 

Their  dialect  of  yore. 

Old  Massachusetts  wears  it 

Upon  her  lordly  crown. 
And  broad  Ohio  bears  it 

Amid  his  young  renown  ; 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  87 

Connecticut  has  wreathed  it 

Where  her  quiet  foliage  waves ; 
And  bold  Kentucky  breathes  it  hoarse 

Through  all  her  ancient  caves. 

Wachusett  hides  its  lingering  voice 

Within  his  rocky  heart ; 
And  Alleghany  graves  its  tone 

Throughout  his  lofty  chart ; 
Monadnock,  on  his  forehead  hoar, 

Doth  seal  the  sacred  trust ; 
Your  mountains  build  their  monument, 

Though  ye  destroy  their  dust. 

Ye  call  these  red-browed  brethren 

The  insects  of  an  hour, 
Crushed  like  the  noteless  worm  amid 

The  regions  of  their  power ; 
Ye  drive  them  from  their  fathers'  land, 

Ye  break  of  faith  the  seal ; 
But  can  ye  from  the  court  of  Heaven 

Exclude  their  last  appeal? 

Ye  see  their  unresisting  tribes. 

With  toilsome  step  and  slow, 
On  through  the  trackless  desert  pass, 

A  caravan  of  woe  ; 
Think  ye  the  Eternal  Ear  is  deaf? 

His  sleepless  vision  dim? 
Think  ye  the  souFs  blood  may  not  cry 

From  that  far  land  to  Him  ? 

Mrs,  Lydia  H.  Sigourney. 


38  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

SUGGESTED  EXERCISES 

Written 

I.     Find  out  and  write  in  your  wordbooks  as  many  dimin- 
utives as  possible  of  the  following  names : 


Alice 

Henrietta 

Octavia 

James 

Catherine 

Margaret 

Wilhelmina 

John 

Christina 

Martha 

Bartholomew 

Lawrence 

Cicely 

Mary 

Christopher 

Philip 

Elinor 

Matilda 

Edward 

Richard 

Elizabeth 

Nancy 

Henry 

Robert 

II.  Find  out  and  write  in  full  all  the  names  you  can  find 
of  which  the  following  are  diminutives,  noticing  that  the  same 
diminutive  may  often  stand  for  several  names : 


(1) 

Abe 

Christie 

Geordie 

Joe 

Nat 

Tim 

Al 

Dan 

Gil 

Jule 

Nick 

Toby 

Andy 

Dave 

Gus 

Just 

Pat 

Tom 

Archie 

Dolphus 

Hodge 

Lew 

Pete 

Tony 

Art 

Frank 

Humph 

Lou 

Sam 

Val 

Ben 

Fred 

Ike 

Mat 

Sim 

Vest 

Bennet 

Gab 

Jake 

Mike 

Sol 

Vick 

Bert 

Gene 

Jock 

(2) 

Mose 

Steve 

Wat 

Abby 

Bertie 

Dolly 

Gertie 

Judy 

May 

Addie 

Biddy 

Dora 

Grisel 

Julie 

Nettie 

Aggy 

Caddie 

Effle 

Gussie 

Lina 

Nora 

Bab 

Clare 

Emmie 

Hattie 

Louie 

Phenie 

Becky 

Deb 

Fannie 

Janet 

Mabel 

Tamzine 

Bell 

Di 

Freddie 

Josie 

Maud 

Trudy 

EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  39 

III.  Find  your  own  first  name,  or  some  form  of  it,  among 
the  Common  English  Christian  Names  in  the  dictionary.  Learn 
its  meaning,  and  write  out  all  its  foreign  spellings,  following 
the  form  given  with  Charles,  If  your  own  name  is  not  to  be 
found,  choose  another  name.  Do  not  be  discouraged  about  the 
pronunciation,  but,  if  necessary,  ask  your  teacher  to  help  you. 
Name  any  noted  persons  who  have  borne  your  first  name. 

IV.  Find  out  all  you  can  about  your  surname.  Write  it 
as  it  is  and  as  it  was,  relating  any  changes  that  have  come  into 
its  spelling.  What  does  it  mean  ?  Name  any  great  people 
who  have  borne  it.  Copy  the  results  of  Exercises  III  and  IV 
into  your  wordbooks. 

V.  After  consulting  any  books  available,  and  after  con- 
versation with  your  parents  and  others,  make  a  list  of  all  the 
nicknames  you  can  find  that  have  been  given  noted  persons. 
Preserve  this  list  in  your  wordbooks  for  permanent  reference 
and  for  additions  from  time  to  time.  Do  not  confound  pen- 
names  (nomS'de-plume)  with  nicknames,  and  do  not  include 
kings  and  queens. 

VI.  List  and  later  copy  into  wordbooks  the  kings  and 
queens  of  England,  with  the  nicknames  given  each,  so  far  as 
you  can  learn  them.  (Consult  Dickens'  "  Child's  History  of 
England"  and  other  Enghsh  histories.) 

VII.  List  and  later  copy  into  wordbooks  the  many  odd 
nicknames  that  have  been  given  to  kings  and  princes  of  France 
bearing  the  name  Charles.  (Consult  any  French  History  or  the 
Century  Cyclopedia  of  Names.) 

Oral 

VIII.  Discuss  in  class  one  by  one  the  results  obtained  in 
the  written  exercises,  so  far  as  these  have  been  attempted. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CLASS   NAMES   AND   INDIVIDUAL   NAMES 

Names  always  do  one  of  two  things :  they  point  out  either 
a  whole  class  of  similar  things  or  else  one  member  of  such  a 
class.  Class  names  are  often  called  common,  because  belonging 
to  many  individuals  at  once ;  while  a  name  belonging  to  an 
individual  person  or  thing  is  called  proper,  because  it  is  peculiar, 
or  proper,  to  that  alone.     Individual  means  indivisible. 

It  is  important  that  you  recognize  proper  names  readily, 
for  you  must  always  begin  these  with  capital  letters.  This  is  a 
convenient  custom,  as  we  thus  understand  more  quickly  what  is 
read.  A  few  hundred  years  ago  no  capitals  or  punctuation 
marks  were  used. 

Your  own  names  are  proper,  or  peculiar,  to  each  one  of  you, 
and  you  learned  long  ago  to  begin  every  part  of  your  names  with 
a  capital.  You  also  learned  to  use  capitals  for  your  town,  county, 
and  state.  Every  person  and  every  town,  every  important  body 
of  water  and  of  land,  every  important  event,  in  fact,  everything 
that  is  of  especial  note,  has  been  given  its  own  proper  name. 

I  hope  you  have  already  noticed  that  capitals  are  used  in 
beginning  names 

1 .  of  the  days  of  the  week ; 

2.  of  the  months  of  the  year; 

3.  of  the  Bible,  Holy  Scriptures,  and  every 

book  and  division  of  the  Bible ; 

4.  of  Deity  or  God. 

40 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


41 


When  you  use  in  writing  any  term  of  relation  or  of 
affection,  it  will  be  a  proper  name  if  it  takes  the  place  of  some 
other  proper  name  that  might  have  been  used  instead.  Thus, 
you  may  say,  "  Father  and  Mother  and  Baby  are  all  well,"  for  you 
here  make  proper  names  of  these  words.  And  you  may  say,  "  I 
saw  Uncle  Ned,  Aunt  Sue,  Cousin  Nell,  and  the  baby.  Have  you 
seen  your  uncle  and  aunt  lately  ?  "  Thus,  you  see,  certain  names 
are  common  or  proper  according  to  the  use  you  make  of  them. 

If  you  were  French  children,  however,  you  would  not  need 
to  capitalize  the  names  of  the  days  of  the  week  nor  of  the 
months  of  the  year.  The  French  custom  does  not  now  call 
these  proper  names,  but,  since  we  speak  English,  we  must  follow 
the  custom  of  English  writers.  On  the  whole,  capitals  are  used 
less  freely  than  they  were  a  few  years  ago. 

One  point  you  need  to  consider :  it  often  happens  that 
general  classes  include  many  smaller  classes  which  are  not  the 
names  of  individuals.  Observe  how  many  smaller  classes  are 
here  included  in  the  first  or  largest  class  before  we  come  to  the 
individual  members,  and  also  how  the  same  class,  as  plant,  may 
be  divided  in  different  ways : 


person 

man 

animal 

person 

man 

soldier 

bird 

pupil 

author 

officer 

eagle 

child 

H,  W.  Longfellow 

U.  S.  Grant 

Old  Abe 

[yourself] 

plant 

plant 

plant 

plant 

cultivated 

bush 

tree 

parallel-veined 

plant 

plant 

fruit  tree 

rose 

evergreen 

lily 

apple  tree 

cultivated  rose 

pine 

wild  lily 

russet  apple 

blush  rose 

white  pine 

tiger  lily 

42  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

You  will  notice  here  that  not  all  class  names  can  be  divided 
into  proper  names  at  last.  This  depends  upon  whether  or  not 
men  have  given  proper  names  to  its  individual  members. 

In  the  class  apples  you  have  the  smaller  classes  russet, 
greening,  pippin,  sweet  apple,  sour  apple,  and  others,  all  of 
which  can  be  divided  into  individual  sorts.  Among  these  you 
may  find  Baldwin,  Spitzenberg,  Tallman  sweet,  and  Wealthy, 
all  of  which  are  proper  names.  The  man  who  developed  the 
"  Wealthy  "  apple  paid  his  wife  a  pretty  compliment,  did  he 
not,  in  giving  her  this  delicious  namesake  ? 

Here  are  some  old  rimes  full  of  proper  names : 

A   Calendar 

Thirty  days  hath  September, 
April,  June,  and  November ; 
All  the  rest  have  thirty-one, 
Excepting  February  alone, 
Which  hath  but  twenty-eight  in  fine, 
Till  Leap-year  gives  it  twenty-nine. 

The  Birthday  Week 

Monday's  bairn  is  fair  in  the  face ; 
Tuesday's  bairn  is  full  of  grace ; 
Wednesday's  bairn  is  the  child  of  woe ; 
Thursday's  bairn  has  far  to  go ; 
Friday's  bairn  is  loving  and  giving ; 
Saturday's  bairn  works  hard  for  a  living ; 
But  the  bairn  that  is  born  on  the  Sabbath  day 
Is  lucky  and  bonny  and  wise  and  gay. 

You  can  probably  guess  from  the  context,  or  connection, 
the  meaning  here  of  all  doubtful  or  new  words.     I  have  given 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  43 

you  a  Scottish  version  of  the  Birthday  Week.  Perhaps  you 
would  like  to  see  this  old  English  one.  I  wonder  which  you 
will  like  the  better. 

Born  on  a  Monday,  fair  of  face ; 
Born  on  a  Tuesday,  full  of  God's  grace ; 
Born  on  a  Wednesday,  merry  and  glad ; 
Born  on  a  Thursday,  sour  and  sad ; 
Born  on  a  Friday,  godly  given ; 
Born  on  a  Saturday,  work  for  a  living ; 
Bom  on  a  Sunday,  never  shall  want ; 
So  there's  the  week,  and  the  end  on't. 

I  wish  I  might  quote  for  you  several  more  of  these  rimes 
of  the  week.  Certain  of  them  refer  to  spinning,  to  cutting  the 
nails,  to  marrying,  and  to  sneezing.  They  are  individual 
examples  of  a  very  old  class  of  verse  and  are  called  folklore. 
It  would  be  interesting  for  you  to  collect  into  a  scrapbook  for 
class  reference  all  the  examples  of  folklore  you  can  gather 
together.  Folklore  includes  myths,  proverbs,  rimes,  tales, 
legends,  and    superstitions  long  current  among  the  people. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral:  As  the  teacher  reads  the  following  common 
names,  let  each  pupil  in  turn  give  a  corresponding  proper  name : 

Man,  woman,  boy,  girl,  author,  blacksmith,  grocer,  book,  teacher, 
minister,  officer,  war,  battle,  hero,  heroine,  ocean,  city,  state,  mountain, 
cape,  gulf,  river,  sea. 

II.  Oral:  As  the  teacher  reads  the  following  proper 
names,  let  each  pupil  in  turn  give  some  class  name  in  which  the 
name  given  might  be  included.     The  terms  man,  person,  indi- 


44 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


vidual,  human   being,  child,  may  in  most  cases  be  taken  for 
granted,  and  more  distinguishing  terms  be  selected. 

George  Washington,  Grace  Darling,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Charles 
Dickens,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  Rosa  Bonheur,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the 
"  Children's  Hour,"  St.  Nicholas^  General  Grant,  Chicago,  Atlantic, 
Mississippi,  Euclid  Avenue,  the  Earth,  Sacramento,  San  Francisco, 
Ontario,  Switzerland,  Russia,  Italy,  Illinois,  America,  Madagascar, 
Florence  Nightingale,  Longfellow,  Edward  VII,  Henry  Hudson,  Napoleon, 
Thames,  Westminster  Abbey,  the  Revolution,  Queen  Victoria,  Solomon, 
Tecumseh,  Francis  Parkman,  Monday,  January,  Juno,  Vulcan,  Castor 
and  Pollux,  "Star-Spangled  Banner,"  St.  Matthew,  Froebel,  William 
McKinley,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Note:  It  is  evident  that  if  the  class  contribute,  one  by  one,  class  names 
for  each  of  these  proper  names,  the  result  will  be  a  characterization;  thus 
William  McKinley  is  at  once  general,  governor,  president,  statesman,  hero,  and 
martyr.  Castor  aud  Pollux  are  a  constellation,  are  heroes  of  mythology,  are 
twins.  It  is  expected  that  the  pupils  will  prepare  for  these  oral  exercises  by 
conversation  with  parents  and  others. 

III.  Written :  Let  each  pupil  write  upon  the  board  all 
class  names  he  can  think  of  for  one  proper  name  in  Exercise  II. 

IV.  First  Oral,  and  theii  Written :  Make  lists  of  proper 
names  included  in  the  following  class  names.  After  discussion, 
copy  them  upon  the  pages  provided  in  your  wordbooks. 


1 .  ocean 

2.  lake 

3.  river 

4.  gulf 

5.  island 

6.  peak 


7 .  county 

8.  battle 

9 .  soldier 

10.  month 

11.  day 

12.  explorer 


13.  author 

14.  president 

15.  poem 

16.  book 

17.  magazine 


19.  building 

20.  street 

21.  territory 

22.  traitor 

23.  pupil 


18.     newspaper     24.     local  firm 


Note:     Do  not  try  to  complete  the  lists  in   Exercise   IV  at  one  writing. 
Add  to  them  from  time  to  time  as  you  have  opportunity. 


CHAPTER   yill 

GENERAL   AND    SPECIAL   TERMS 

Will  you  please  to  tell  me  which  word  in  each  of  these 
pairs  of  words  includes  the  greater  number  of  objects : 

plant  —  flower  animal  —  horse  dog  —  mastiff 

man  —  negro  flower  —  violet  tree  —  oak 

You  answer  at  once,  the  former  one  of  each  pair.  Now  tell 
me,  which  one  in  each  pair  makes  the  better  picture  in  your 
minds,  and  hence  means  the  more  to  you  ?  You  say  the  latter 
one,  and  this  is  also  correct.  In  fact,  violet  means  all  that 
flower  means,  and  flower  means  all  that  plant  means,  not  in 
number,  but  in  nature  or  kind.  To  put  this  another  way,  it 
will  require  more  words  for  you  to  tell  me  all  you  know  about 
the  violet  than  to  tell  all  you  know  of  a  plant  in  general. 
This  shows  that  violet  means  much  more  to  us  than  plant  does. 
We  call  these  pairs  of  names  general  and  special  terms. 
You  see  at  once  how  useful  special  terms  are.  To  say  "  I  saw 
a  policeman  leading  a  horse,"  gives  a  much  clearer  picture  than 
to  say  ''  I  saw  a  man  leading  an  animal."  If  you  tell  me  your 
father  has  three  cows,  I  know  much  less  than  if  you  tell  me  he 
has  one  Durham,  one  Jersey,  and  one  Holstein.  You  must 
notice  and  acquire  many  special  terms  if  your  language  is  to 
convey  to  others  exact  ideas  of  what  you  mean.  Conversation 
with  your  parents  and  others,  reading,  study  of  the  dictionary, — 

45 


46  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

all  these  will  be  means  toward  this  end.  Observation  of  the 
language  of  people  who  know  any  one  thing  well  will  perhaps 
be  your  best  teacher. 

I  have  given  you  many  exercises  in  class  names,  under 
which  I  wish  you  to  write  the  special  objects  or  the  smaller 
classes  which  these  general  names  include  and  hence  might 
mean.  I  have  given  you  the  general  name  roof  because  I 
wish  you  to  look  at  the  pictures  in  the  back  of  the  dictionary 
under  Architecture,  in  order  that  you  may  tell  me  about  the 
roofs  on  your  own  houses  and  barns.  If  you  tell  me  that  your 
barn  has  a  sharp  roof,  I  am  not  sure  what  you  mean,  but  if  you 
say  it  has  a  gable  roof,  I  shall  understand  and  shall  have  a 
clearer  mind  picture.  I  have  given  you  the  term  hack  because 
I  wish  you  to  learn  just  what  hack  means.  Remember  that  a 
word  which  is  to  you  an  empty  and  meaningless  name  is  of  no 
more  value  than  would  be  a  tool  of  which  you  can  not  find 
the  use. 

Suppose  we  talk  together  a  little  while  about  the  class 
name  carriage.  If  a  thief  were  escaping  in  a  coupe  and  you 
could  only  tell  a  policeman  that  you  saw  him  leave  in  a  car- 
riage, there  would  be  less  likelihood  of  his  capture  than  if  you 
were  able  to  use  the  exact  special  term.  Will  you  please  to 
look  in  the  back  of  an  unabridged  dictionary  at  the  pictures 
given  under  Vehicles  for  Land  Locomotion  ?  You  see  at  once 
that  carriage  may  mean  a  great  many  different  things.  Nor 
are  all  names  for  carriage  among  those  pictured.  You  might 
add  to  the  list  the  terms  omnibus,  wagon,  phaeton,  drag,  cari- 
ole  and  carryall,  chariot,  curricle,  cah,  stage,  hansom,  hack 
and  hackney,  brougham,  velocipede,  bicycle,  tricycle,  and 
automobile. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  47 

In  "  The  Diverting  History  of  John  Gilpin,"  by  William 
Cowper,  John's  wife  says  : 

"  To-moiTOw  is  our  wedding  day, 
And  we  will  then  repair 
Unto  the  DfeU  at  Edmonton 
All  in  a  chaise  and  pair. 

My  sister  and  my  sister's  child, 
Myself  and  children  three, 
Will  fill  the  chaise,  so  you  must  ride 
On  horseback  after  we." 

As  John's  wife  had  probably  not  attended  school,  we  must 
pardon  her  poor  English.  The  story  also  tells  that  a  boy  went 
along  to  drive  the  chaise  to  the  Bell  Tavern,  or  Inn.  So,  that 
chaise  was  well  filled.  The  poem  is  too  long  to  give  here 
in  full,  but  I  hope  you  all  know  the  story. 

Here  is  the  tale  of  a  trick  played  by  a  clergyman  upon  the 
driver  of  a  hackney  coach.  Your  teacher  may  tell  you  the 
meaning  of  the  words  you  cannot  guess. 

He  [Swift]  was  going,  one  dark  evening,  to  dine  with  some  great  man 
and  was  accompanied  by  some  other  clergymen  to  whom  he  gave  their 
cue.  They  were  all  in  their  canonicals.  When  they  arrive  at  the  house 
the  coachman  opens  the  door  and  lets  down  the  steps.  Down  steps  the 
Dean, "very  reverend  in  his  black  robes;  after  him  comes  another  person- 
age, equally  black  and  dignified ;  then  another ;  then  a  fourth.  The 
coachman,  who  recollects  taking  up  no  greater  number,  is  about  to  put  up 
the  steps,  when  another  clergyman  descends.  After  giving  way  to  this 
other,  he  proceeds  with  great  confidence  to  toss  them  [the  steps]  up, 
when  lo!  another  comes.  Well,  there  cannot,  he  thinks,  be  more  than  six. 
He  is  mistaken.  Down  comes  a  seventh,  then  an  eighth ;  then  a  ninth ; 
all  with  decent  intervals ;  the  coach,  in  the  meantime,  rocking  as  if  it  were 


48  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

giving  birth  to  so  many  demons.  The  coachman  can  conclude  no  less. 
He  cries  out,  "The  devil!  the  devil ! "  and  is  preparing  to  run  away,  when 
they  all  burst  into  laughter.  They  had  gone  round  as  they  descended, 
and  got  in  at  the  other  door. 

From  "  Essay  on  Coaches"  by  Leigh  Hunt. 

I  believe  our  hackmen  today  do  not  usually  speak  of  "  tak- 
ing up  "  people ;  neither  do  they  "  toss  up "  their  steps,  as  it 
seems  they  once  did. 

Here  are  two  stanzas  from  an  odd  old  song : 

Then  answered  'Squire  Morley,  "  Pray  get  a  calash, 
That  in  summer  may  burn,  and  in  winter  may  splash ; 
I  love  dirt  and  dust ;  and  'tis  always  my  pleasure 
To  take  with  me  much  of  the  soil  that  I  measure." 

But  Matthew  thought  better ;  for  Matthew  thought  right. 
And  hired  a  chariot  so  trim  and  so  tight. 
That  extremes  both  of  winter  and  summer  might  pass ; 
For  one  window  was  canvas,  the  other  was  glass. 

Matthew  Prior. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral  Drill :  Which  is  the  more  general  term  in  each 
of  these  pairs  of  words  ? 

dish  —  cup  quadruped  —  dog         man  —  blacksmith 

sofa  —  furniture        person  —  pupil  sandstone  —  rock 

building  —  barn        cottage  —  house  chair  —  seat 

II.  Oral  Drill :  Which  is  the  most  special  term  in  each 
of  the  following  groups  of  words : 

man  —  laborer  —  blacksmith         plant  —  oak  —  tree 

bird  —  eagle  —  bird  of  prey  food-plant  —  maize  —  cultivated  plant 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


49 


III.  Oral,  and  then  Written :  Name,  and  later  write  in 
your  wordbooks,  as  many  special  terms  as  you  can  under  each 
of  the  following  general  terms : 


1. 

vegetable 

8. 

herb 

15. 

quadruped 

22. 

vine 

2. 

flower 

9. 

color 

16. 

shoe 

23. 

car 

3. 

furniture 

10. 

tree 

17. 

officer 

24. 

grain 

4. 

occupation 

11. 

fabric 

18. 

laborer 

25. 

drink 

5. 

tool 

12. 

game 

19. 

dog 

26. 

roof 

6. 

stream 

13. 

bird 

20. 

cow 

27. 

coach 

7. 

ornament 

14. 

stone 

21. 

reptile 

28. 

musical 
instrument 

IV.  Oral,  and  then  Written :  A  discussion  upon  the  jin- 
rikisha  and  then  letters  describing  an  imaginary  ride.  Describe 
the  cart,  motive  power,  disadvantages,  and  so  forth,  comparing 
it  with  other  vehicles  common  in  our  own  country. 

V.  Suggested  Optional  Study:  If  you  would  like  to 
know  more  about  the  meaning  of  the  different  terms  for 
carriage,  you  may  look  up  each  special  term  under  carriage  in 
the  dictionary,  and  then  answer  the  following  questions : 
Which  pictured  carriage  is  named  after  a  large  city  in 
Germany?  Which  one  for  a  small  town,  also  in  Germany? 
Which  one  has  a  Russian  or  Polish  name?  Which  one  is 
named  for  a  goat  because  of  its  skipping  lightness?  Which 
one  is  used  by  the  Tartars  as  a  sort  of  movable  house?  Which 
one  gives  space  for  reclining  at  night?  What  do  you  infer 
from  this,  together  with  the  place  of  its  origin  ?  Why  do  we 
not  have  such  a  vehicle  in  America?  How  does  the  Ensflish 
brett  differ  from  its  original  form  as  a  britzka?  Which  one 
is  named  from  the  supposed  disposition  of  the  one  who  should 


50  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

use  it  ?  (I  liope  none  of  you  ever  have  this  disposition  ! )  Do 
you  know  the  name  of  the  hood  or  top  that  can  be  raised  or 
lowered  ?  Has  the  rockaway  a  calash-top  ?  If  a  woman  wears 
a  calash,  what  has  it  like  the  pictured  vehicle?  What  is  a 
jump-seat  rockaway  ?  Can  you  tell  a  coupe  from  a  hansom  ? 
Which  one  has  a  seat  elevated  behind  for  the  driver?  Just 
what  does  hachney-GO'doh.  mean  ? 

Why  would  it  be  difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory  picture  for 
the  names  cart,  drag,  cah,  wagon,  brougham,  omnibus,  stage, 
cariole,  carryall,  hack,  j^haetonf  What  is  the  slight  difference 
between  a  chaise  and  a  curricle?  Which  of  the  pictured 
vehicles  have  seats  for  footmen  ?  Which  one  would  you  choose 
for  a  picnic  party  ?  Can  you  name  at  least  three  special  terms 
for  each  of  the  general  terms  coach,  cart,  wagon?  What  is  a 
jinrikisha?  A  buckboardf  If  you  can  procure  the  catalog  of 
a  carriage  manufactory,  you  will  find  there  the  latest  names  for 
fashionable  vehicles  of  all  sorts.  Whether  or  not  you  can 
answer  all  the  questions  I  have  suggested,  I  hope  that,  at  least, 
you  have  an  increased  respect  for  the  very  useful  general  term 
carriage,  and  all  that  it  may  mean.  We  say  it  has  a  very 
large  extent  of  meaning.  In  your  reading  of  English  stories, 
you  will  often  meet  some  of  these  specific  terms.  If  you  should 
become  able  to  answer  these  questions,  you  will  be  better  pre- 
pared some  day  to  read  and  enjoy  the  essays  upon  coaches 
which  have  been  written  by  De  Quincey,  Leigh  Hunt,  and 
Washington  Irving,  all  three  famous  for  use  of  the  purest  and 
best  English. 


CHAPTEE   IX 

PARTS   AND   MATERIALS   OF   OBJECTS 

You  begin  to  see  the  value  of  both  special  and  general  terms. 
This  lesson  will  give  you  another  good  way  for  increasing  your 
stock  of  special  names.  For  a  day  or  two  you  may  consider  the 
parts  and  the  materials  of  certain  objects.  To  learn  what  you 
need  to  know,  you  may  find  it  necessary  to  question  your  parents 
and  friends,  the  shoemaker,  the  blacksmith,  and  many  other 
people.  However,  the  asking  of  questions  respectfully  at  a 
proper  time  is  one  of  the  best  ways  for  getting  information. 

I  shall  not  give  you  for  study  anything  so  complicated  as 
a  ship  or  an  engine ;  for  only  persons  who  have  studied  those 
objects  long  and  carefully  could  tell  much  about  their  parts. 
However,  any  one  of  you  who  wishes  to  do  so  may  use  the  term 
engine  or  ship  in  place  of  one  of  those  given  in  your  exercises. 

This  little  rime  ^  shows  at  least  that  its  writer  knew  some- 
thing about  a  gun.     How  many  Johns  did  John  Ball  shoot? 

"  John  Patch  made  the  match, 
And  John  Clint  made  the  flint, 
And  John  Puzzle  made  the  muzzle, 
And  John  Crowder  made  the  powder, 
And  John  Block  made  the  stock, 
And  John  Brammer  made  the  hammer, 
And  John  Wiming  made  the  priming, 
And  John  Scott  made  the  shot ; 
But  John  Ball  shot  them  all." 

*  From  "Golden  Rod  Books."  By  permissiou  of  the  publishers,  Uni- 
versity Publishing  Company. 

51 


52  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

A  good  game  for  you  to  play  now  is  called  "  Three  King- 
doms/' or  "  Guessing."  If  you  have  a  large  number  of  players, 
first  divide  into  equal  parties  by  choosing  sides.  Each  side 
must  have  its  own  room  and  must  send  a  guesser  out  of 
hearing.  A  word  may  now  be  decided  upon  to  be  guessed 
(each  side  in  turn  choosing  a  word).  Suppose  a  certain  shoe  is 
agreed  upon.  All  observe  that  it  has  cotton  lining,  iron  nails, 
brass  eyelets,  and  leather  soles  and  uppers.  The  guessers  are 
called  back  each  into  the  room  of  the  other  party.  A  guesser 
may  ask,  "Does  it  belong  to  the  mineral  kingdom?"  "Yes." 
"  Has  it  any  part  belonging  to  the  vegetable  kingdom  ? " 
"  Yes."  "  Is  it  partly  animal  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  Then  it  belongs  to 
all  three  kingdoms?"  "Yes  ;"  and  so  on.  These  questions  are 
answered  in  turn  by  the  ones  not  guessing.  The  next  step  is 
to  locate  the  object,  if  possible.  "Is  it  in  America?"  and  so 
forth.  A  good  guesser  will  be  very  rapid  in  his  questions,  and 
will  often  locate  an  object  in  a  few  minutes.  The  side  guess- 
ing the  object  first  may  choose  a  player  from  the  opposite  side, 
who  must  leave  his  own  side  and  join  the  other ;  or,  sometimes, 
merely  the  words  guessed  on  each  side  are  counted  to  see  which 
side  wins.  It  is  not  considered  fair  play  to  ask  "  Does  it  begin 
with  A?  "  "  with  B  ?  "  and  so  on ;  for  any  child  who  can  spell 
could  guess  things  that  way,  and  this  would  imply  no  skill  in 
asking  questions.  Do  you  think  it  easy  to  ask  good  questions  ? 
Not  for  everybody,  I  am  sure. 

Would  you  like  to  read  a  few  lines  showing  how  a  man 
who  loves  and  understands  a  steam-engine  in  all  its  parts  has 
thrown  his  thought  about  it  into  rime  ? 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  5S 

The  crank- throws  give  the  double-bass,  the  feed-pump  sobs  an'  heaves, 

An'  now  the  main  eccentrics  start  their  quarrel  on  the  sheaves : 

Her  time,  her  own  appointed  time,  the  rocking  link-head  bides. 

Till — hear  that  note?  —  the  rod's  return  whings  glimmerin'  through  the 

guides. 
They're  all  awa' !     True  beat,  full  power,  the  clangin'  chorus  goes 
Clear  to  the  tunnel  where  they  sit,  my  purrin'  dynamos. 

Fra  skylight-lift  to  furnace-bars,  backed,  bolted,  braced  an'  stayed, 
An'  singin'  like  the  Momin'  Stars  for  joy  that  they  are  made. 

From  *'Mc  Andrews*  Hymn"  by  Budyard  Kipling  * 

It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  understand  all  about  an 
engine  in  order  to  enjoy  the  poetry  of  this  "  Song  o'  Steam." 

Study  the  two  following  extracts  from  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes'  "  One-Hoss-Shay,"  and  consider  how  thoroly  he 
needed  to  know  the  parts  and  materials  of  a  chaise  in  order  to 
describe  the  "  Shay."  A  listing  of  parts  such  as  this  is  called 
enumeration,  and  is  one  sort  of  description.  If  possible, 
obtain  the  poem  and  read  the  entire  story. 

t  So  the  Deacon  inquired  of  the  village  folk 
Where  he  could  find  the  strongest  oak. 
That  couldn't  be  split  nor  bent  nor  broke, — 
That  was  for  spokes  and  floor  and  sills ; 
He  sent  for  lancewood  to  make  the  thills ; 
The  crossbars  were  ash  from  the  straightest  trees. 
The  panels  of  whitewood,  that  cuts  like  cheese. 
But  lasts  like  iron  for  things  like  these ; 
The  hubs  of  logs  from  the  "  Settler's  ellum," — 
Last  of  its  timber, — they  couldn't  sell  'em. 
Never  an  axe  had  seen  their  chips, 

♦  Reprinted  by  kind  permission  of  Mr.  Kiplliig  and  of  his  publishers. 

t  Reprinted    by  permission  of    Houghton,    Mifflin  &   Company,    authorized 
publishers  of  Holmes'  works. 


54  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


And  the  wedges  flew  from  between  their  lips, 
Their  blunt  ends  frizzled  like  celery-tips ; 
Step  and  prop-iron,  bolt  and  screw. 
Spring,  tire,  axle,  and  linchpin  too. 
Steel  of  the  finest,  bright  and  blue ; 
Thoroughbrace  bison-skin,  thick  and  wide ; 
Boot,  top,  dasher,  from  tough  old  hide 
Found  in  the  pit  when  the  tanner  died. 
That  was  the  way  he  "  put  her  through." 
'  There,"  said  the  Deacon,  "  naow  she'll  dew  !  " 


First  of  November, —  the  Earthquake-day, — 
There  are  traces  of  age  in  the  one-hoss  shay, 
A  general  flavor  of  mild  decay. 
But  nothing  local,  as  one  may  say. 
There  couldn't  be, —  for  the  Deacon's  art 
Had  made  it  so  like  in  every  part 
That  there  wasn't  a  chance  for  one  to  start. 
For  the  wheels  were  just  as  strong  as  the  thills. 
And  the  floor  was  just  as  strong  as  the  sills, 
And  the  panels  just  as  strong  as  the  floor. 
And  the  whipple-tree  neither  less  nor  more. 
And  the  back-crossbar  as  strong  as  the  fore, 
And  spring  and  axle  and  hub  encore. 
And  yet,  as  a  whole^  it  is  past  a  doubt 
In  another  hour  it  will  be  vjo7'n  out ! 

EXERCISES 

I.     Oral ;  Written  for  class  ;  ayid  later  Written  in  ivord- 
hooks  :     Give  (a)  the  parts  and  (6)  the  materials  of: 

1.  boat  4. 

2.  umbrella  5. 

3.  house  6. 

[or  wagon] 


fruitcake 

7. 

sewing- 

10. 

shoe 

furnace 

machine 

[or  bonnet] 

chandelier 

8. 

gun 

11. 

harness 

[or  clock] 

9. 

j  ackknif  e 

12. 

bicycle 
[or  table] 

EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  55 

II.  Suggested:  Let  each  pupil  bring  to  class  any  one 
object  he  may  select,  and  name  there  its  parts  and  its  materials. 

III.  Suggested :  A  game  in  which  each  pupil  may  read 
or  recite  the  parts  and  materials  of  some  object,  while  the  rest 
of  the  class  guess  what  is  described. 

IV.  Suggested :  Definitions  of  any  sort  rapidly  read  or 
recited  by  the  teacher  while  the  class  guess  the  object  defined. 


I  sift  the  snow  on  the  mountains  below, 

And  their  great  pines  groan  aghast ; 
And  all  the  night  'tis  my  pillow  white, 

While  I  sleep  in  the  arms  of  the  blast. 
That  orbed  maiden,  with  white  fire  laden, 

Whom  mortals  call  the  moon. 
Glides  glimmering  o'er  my  fleece-like  floor. 

By  the  midnight  breezes  strewn ; 
And  wherever  the  beat  of  her  unseen  feet. 

Which  only  the  angels  hear. 
May  have  broken  the  woof  of  my  tent's  thin  roof. 

The  stars  peep  behind  her  and  peer ; 
And  I  laugh  to  see  them  whirl  and  flee, 

Like  a  swarm  of  golden  bees. 
When  I  widen  the  rent  in  my  wind-built  tent, 

Till  the  calm  rivers,  lakes,  and  seas. 
Like  strips  of  the  sky  fallen  through  me  on  high 

Are  each  paved  with  the  moon  and  these. 
I  am  the  daughter  of  earth  and  water. 

And  the  nursling  of  the  sky  ; 
I  pass  through  the  pores  of  the  ocean  an.,  shores  ; 

I  change,  but  I  cannot  die. 

From  "  The  Cloudy''  by  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley, 


CHAPTEK   X 

ON   MEMORIZING:     WHAT   AND   HOW 
LULLABY  SONGS 

Since  we  all  wish  to  think,  to  talk,  and  to  read  ;  since  also 
we  wish  to  speak  correctly  and  to  read  understandingly,  we 
shall  need  to  consider  a  great  deal  of  the  best  English  that  has 
been  written.  This  is  the  pleasantest  as  well  as  surest  road  to 
correct  speech. 

One  cannot  begin  too  early  the  habit  of  memorizing  bits 
of  choice  English.  I  hope  you  do  not  memorize  trash.  Be 
sure  that  whatever  you  decide  to  commit  —  or  entrust  —  to 
your  memory  for  its  safe  and  permanent  keeping  is  worthy  of 
being  kept  there  forever.  All  such  mental  stores  will  accumu- 
late interest  as  truly  as  does  money  put  into  a  bank.  Deter- 
mine to  memorize  much,  but  only  what  has  real  value.  It  is 
undesirable  that  you  memorize  verbatim  —  that  is,  word  for 
word  —  in  your  history  and  geography  lessons  ;  for  these  are 
not  written  in  English  so  noble  that  you  would  wish  to  retain  it 
thruout  life.  We  say  of  them  that  they  are  not  literature ;  and 
by  literature  we  mean  all  verse  and  prose  that  is  written  best 
and  that  is  most  worthy  of  preservation. 

But  for  another  reason,  you  should  not  memorize  anything 
which  you  really  expect  to  forget :  because  you  will  thereby 
develop  a  parrot-like  memory  which  loses  as  quickly  as  it 
acquires.  All  good  literature  is  valuable  for  its  form  as  well 
as  for  its  thought.     But  the  important  thing  in  many  school 

66 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  57 

lessons  is  fact.  This  is  especially  true  of  geography  and  his- 
tory. When  you  memorize  exact  forms  you  are  very  likely  to 
lose  sight  of  the  facts.  Then  consider  in  all  your  study  just 
what  it  is  you  wish  to  remember,  whether  fact  alone,  or  form 
chiefly,  or  both. 

Within  the  next  few  years,  you  will  probably  do  more 
memorizing  than  ever  again  during  an  equal  space  of  time. 
Then  let  me  give  you  here  a  few  hints  as  to  the  best  method  of 
memorizing : 

1.  Learn  only  so  much  at  first  as  your  mind  can  easily 
grasp. 

2.  Repeat  by  parts  so  learned  until  the  whole  has  grad- 
ually been  thus  acquired. 

3.  When  all  has  been  learned  by  parts,  begin  to  repeat 
the  whole,  at  first  every  day,  then  at  longer  and  longer  inter- 
vals, and  also  under  different  circumstances  as  to  time  and  place. 

Remember  that  the  more  you  make  your  memories  hold, 
the  more  they  can  hold.  Make  them  grow  strong  by  much  wise 
use,  putting  into  them  well-tied-up  bundles,  not  armful s  of 
things  all  unbound. 

Be  absolutely  accurate  to  the  very  letter  in  memorizing 
literature ;  but  in  other  subjects  use  time  and  place  as  a  means 
for  holding  together  facts.  Memory  is  the  very  best  servant  of 
your  minds.  Then  require  Memory  to  seize  fast  all  that  you 
wish  held,  and  also  to  re-collect  it  at  your  command. 

I  wish  to  show  you  today  one  beautiful  and  very  common 
use  of  good  English.  Nearly  every  poet  has  written  one  or 
more  lullaby  songs.  Doubtless  you  remember  certain  of  those 
from  Mother  Goose,  and  perhaps  you  sing  them  sometimes  to 
the  babies  in  your  homes.     Can  you  repeat  the  ones  beginning 


68  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

thus :  Rock-a-by,  baby,  your  cradle  is  green  ;  Rock-a-by,  baby, 
upon  the  tree-top  ;  By,  Baby  Bunting-  ? 

The  English  of  Mother  Goose  is  called  colloquial^  or  such 
as  belongs  to  common  conversation.  Mother  Goose  is  not  the 
best  literature,  altho  she  is  very  musical  and  makes  good  jog- 
trot tunes  for  the  baby's  dandling  or  trotting.  However,  as 
you  are  all  old  enough  for  something  better  than  Mother  Goose, 
I  shall  give  you  here  several  beautiful  lullabies.  I  hope  that 
you  long  ago  learned  to  sing  Alfred  Tennyson's  "  Sweet  and 
Low."  Be  sure  to  include  this  song  in  your  school  lullaby 
book.  I  hope  too  that  you  will  find  someone  to  sing  you  the 
one  I  give  you  here  from  Walter  Scott.  In  both  of  these  the 
melody  as  commonly  heard  is  beautiful. 

O  hush  thee,  my  babie,  thy  sire  was  a  knight, — 
Thy  mother's  a  lady  both  lovely  and  bright ; 
The  woods  and  the  glens,  from  the  towers  which  we  see, 
They  all  are  belonging,  dear  babie,  to  thee. 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo. 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo. 

O  fear  not  the  bugle,  though  loudly  it  blows. 
It  calls  but  the  warders  that  guard  thy  repose ; 
Their  bows  would  be  bended,  their  blades  would  l)e  red. 
Ere  the  step  of  a  foeman  draw  near  to  tliy  bed. 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo, 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo. 

O  hush  thee,  my  babie,  the  time  soon  will  come. 

When  thy  sleep  shall  be  broken  by  trumpet  and  drum ; 

Then  hush  thee,  my  darling,  take  rest  while  you  may. 

For  strife  comes  with  manhood  and  waking  with  day. 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo. 

Oho  ro,  iri  ri,  cadul  gu  lo. 

Walter  Scott. 


EVETIYDAY  ENGLISH  59 

Here  is  a  charming  lullaby  which  a  seal  mother  is  supposed 
to  sing  to  her  baby  seal.  Do  you  not  almost  feel  the  regular 
rocking  of  the  waves  as  you  repeat  the  lines? 

Oh,  hush  thee,  my  baby,  the  night  is  behind  us, 

And  black  are  the  waters  that  sparkled  so  green. 
The  moon,  o'er  the  combers,  looks  downward  to  find  us 

At  rest  in  the  billows  that  rustle  between. 
Where  billow  meets  billow,  there  soft  be  thy  pillow ; 

Ah,  weary  wee  flippering,  curl  at  thy  ease. 
The  storm  shall  not  wake  thee,  nor  shark  overtake  thee 

Asleep  in  the  arms  of  the  slow-swinging  seas. 

Budyard  Kipling  * 

The  combers  (from  comb)  are  long,  curling  waves  that 
comb  the  beach,  perhaps,  and  look  like  masses  of  white  combed 
wool.  Flippering  means  a  little  flipper,  just  as  duckling  means 
a  little  duck.     The  broad  fins  of  a  fish  are  called  flippers. 

I  wonder  how  you  will  like  this  odd  old  lullaby  written  to 
Titania,  Queen  of  the  Fairies : 

First  Fairy 
You  spotted  snakes  with  double  tongue, 

Thorny  hedge-hogs,  be  not  seen. 
Newts  and  blind- worms,  do  no  wrong ; 

Come  not  near  our  fairy  queen. 

Chorus 
Philomel,  with  melody 
Sing  in  our  sweet  lullaby ; 
LuUa,  lulla,  lullaby;  lulla,  lulla,  lullaby! 
Never  harm,  nor  spell,  nor  charm. 
Come  our  lovely  lady  nigh ! 
So,  good  night,  with  lullaby. 

*  Reprinted  by  kind  permission  of  Mr.  Kipling  and  of  his  publishers. 


60  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

Second  Fairy 
Weaving  spiders,  come  not  here ; 

Hence,  you  long-legg'd  spinners,  hence; 
Beetles  black,  approach  not  near ; 

Worm,  nor  snail,  do  no  offence. 

Chorus 

Philomel,  with  melody 

Sing  in  our  sweet  lullaby ; 

Lulla,  lulla,  lullaby;  lulla,  lulla,  lullaby! 

Never  harm,  nor  spell,  nor  charm, 

Come  our  lovely  lady  nigh ! 

So,  good  night,  with  lullaby. 

William  Shakspere. 

The  newt  is  a  small  lizard,  and  the  blind-worm  is  not  a 
worm  but  a  little  reptile,  like  a  short  snake,  with  eyes  so  small 
that  it  was  thought  to  be  blind.  Philomel  is  the  English 
nightingale,  famous  for  its  beautiful  singing.  Can  you  not  feel 
the  music  in  the  lines  ?     All  poetry  should  sing  to  you. 

Here  is  a  lullaby  which  a  very  patient  mother,  named 
Grissel,  or  Griselda,  was  supposed  to  sing  to  her  babies.  We 
do  not  often  now  see  the  word  wanton  thus  used  as  pet  name 
for  a  roving,  frolicsome  thing : 

Golden  slumbers  kiss  your  eyes, 
Smiles  awake  you  when  you  rise. 
Sleep,  pretty  wantons,  do  not  cry. 
And  I  will  sing  a  lullaby  : 
Rock  them,  rock  them,  lullaby. 

Care  is  heavy,  therefore  sleep  you ; 

You  are  care,  and  care  must  keep  you. 

Sleep,  pretty  wantons,  do  not  cry. 

And  I  will  sing  a  lullaby : 

Rock  them,  rock  them,  lullaby. 

Thomas  Dekker. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  61 

It  is  hard  to  choose  among  so  many  charming  songs,  but  I 
think  you  will  like  one  other  old  English  song  that  is  also  full 
of  music  if  you  read  it  properly.  Be  sure  to  accent  the  first 
syllable,  Ba,  making  it  as  long  as  Sing  ha  together  in  the  last 
stanza ;  and  read  as  if  Bd-loo-loo  were  one  word.  We  do  not 
hear  this  old  word  (hdloo,  or  balow,  or  balou)  often  now,  altho 
a  few  recent  writers  have  used  it.  It  was  made  of  old  nursery 
syllables  used  to  lull  babies  to  sleep,  hence  it  came  to  mean  any 
lullaby  song.  It  has  been  out  of  use,  but  seems  to  be  coming 
back  again.     This  lullaby  is  so  musical  that  it  almost  sings  itself. 

Baloo,  loo,  lammy,  now  baloo,  my  dear. 
Does  wee  lammy  ken  that  its  daddy' s  no  here  ? 
Ye' re  rocking  full  sweetly  on  mammy's  warm  knee, 
But  daddy's  a-rocking  upon  the  salt  sea. 

Now  hush-a-by,  lammy,  now  hush-a-by,  dear ; 
Now  hush-a-by,  lammy,  for  mother  is  near. 
The  wild  wind  is  raving,  and  mammy's  heart's  sair; 
The  wild  wind  is  raving,  and  ye  dinna  care. 

Sing  baloo,  loo,  lammy,  sing  baloo,  my  dear; 
Sing  baloo,  loo,  lammy,  for  mother  is  here. 
My  wee  bairnie's  dozing,  it's  dozing  now  fine. 
And,  oh,  may  its  wakening  be  blither  than  mine ! 

Lady  Nairne. 

An  American  poet,  Eugene  Field,  alone  has  written  more 
than  a  dozen  charming  lullabies.  We  may  well  call  him  the 
Poet  of  Lullabies.  One  that  boys  and  girls  are  sure  to  like  is 
called  "  Wynken,  Blynken,  and  Nod." 

A  Zealand  lullaby,  founded  upon  Zealand  folklore,  may  be 
interesting  to  you.  You  can  find  the  whole  story  in  Whittier's 
"  Kallundborg  Church  "  in  "  The  Tent  on  the  Beach," 


62  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

And  Esbern  listened,  and  caught  the  sound 

Of  a  Troll- wife  singing  underground : 
"  Tomorrow  comes  Fine,  father  thine  : 

Lie  still  and  hush  thee,  baby  mine ; 

Lie  still,  my  darling  !  next  sunrise 

Thou'lt  play  with  Esbern  Snare's  heart  and  eyes !  " 
*'  Ho  !  ho  !  "  quoth  Esbern,  "  is  that  your  game? 

Thanks  to  the  Troll-wife,  I  know  his  name  !  " 

I  hope  you  will  learn  to  understand  and  hence  to  love  the 
Scottish  dialect,  which  is  full  of  the  most  charming  songs.  I 
give  you  one  Scottish  lullaby.  Obtain  also  for  study,  if  pos- 
sible, another  one  called  "  Cuddle  Doon." 

Willie  Winkie 

Wee  Willie  Winkie  rins  through  the  town, 
Up-stairs  and  doon-stairs  in  his  nicht-gown, 
Tirlin'  at  the  window,  cryin'  at  the  lock, 
"Are  the  weans  in  their  bed?  —  for  it's  now  ten  o'clock." 

Hey,  Willie  Winkie,  are  ye  comin'  ben? 

The  cat's  singin'  gey  thrums  to  the  sleepin'  hen, 

The  doug's  speldered  on  the  floor,  and  disna  gie  a  cheep ; 

But  here's  a  waukrife  laddie  that  winna  fa'  asleep. 

Onything  but  sleep,  ye  rogue  !  — glowerin'  like  the  moon, 
Rattlin'  in  an  airn  jug  wi'  an  airn  spoon ; 
Rumblin',  tumblin'  roun'  about,  crawin'  like  a  cock, 
Skirlin'  like  a'  kenna-what  —  wauknin'  sleepin'  folk. 

Hey,  Willie  Winkie  !  the  wean's  in  a  creel, 
Waumblin'  aff  a  bodie's  knee  like  a  vera  eel ; 
Ruggin'  at  the  cat's  lug,  and  ravelhn'  a'  her  thrums : 
Hey,  Willie  Winkie  !  —  See,  there  he  comes  ! 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  63 

Weary  is  the  inither  that  has  a  stoorie  wean, 
A  wee  stumpie  stoussie  that  canna  rin  his  lane, 
That  has  a  battle  aye  wi'  sleep  before  he'll  close  an  ee ; 
But  a  kiss  frae  aff  his  rosy  lips  gies  strength  anew  to  me. 

William  Miller. 

I  hope  you  will  read  this  poem  until  you  feel  its  music 
sings  to  you.  To  make  sure  you  understand  it,  I  give  you  here 
a  translation  into  modern  English.  Many  of  its  words  now 
called  Scottish  were  once  the  common  English  form. 

Little  Winking  Willie  runs  through  the  town,  up-stairs 
and  down-stairs  in  his  night-gown,  rattling  at  the  window,  cry- 
ing at  the  lock,  ^'  Are  the  children  in  bed  ?  for  it's  now  ten 
o'clock." 

Hey,  Winking  Willie  !  are  you  coming  in  ?  The  cat's 
singing  droning  songs  to  the  sleeping  hen ;  the  dog's  stretched 
out  on  the  floor,  and  does  not  give  a  peep ;  but  here's  a  wakeful 
little  boy  who  will  not  fall  asleep. 

Anything  but  sleep,  you  rogue !  staring  like  the  moon ; 
rattling  in  an  iron  pitcher  with  an  iron  spoon ;  murmuring, 
tumbling  'round  and  about,  crowing  like  a  cock,  screaming  like 
I  know  not  what  —  wakening  sleeping  folks ! 

Hey,  Winking  Willie  !  the  child's  in  a  fit,  twisting  off  a 
body's  knee  like  a  very  eel ;  pulling  at  the  cat's  ear  and  con- 
fusing all  her  songs,  Hey,  Winking  Willie ;  see  there  he  comes ! 

Weary  is  the  mother  who  has  a  stirring  [uneasy]  child,  a 
little  stumpy  [like  a  stump,  stout  and  thick],  sturdy  one,  that 
cannot  run  alone  ;  that  has  a  battle  always  with  sleep  before 
he'll  close  an  eye  ;  but  a  kiss  from  off  his  rosy  lips  gives  strength 
anew  to  me. 

We  seem  to  have  no  English  word  for  stoussie,  a  strong, 


64  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

healthy  child ;  nor  for  gey  meaning  considerable,  or  long-drawn- 
out  ;  a  gey  while  equals  a  considerable  while.  WiUie  Winkie 
is  the  Scottish  equivalent  for  the  English  "  Sand  Man "  or 
"  Dust  Man/'  who  according  to  traditions  of  folklore  goes  about 
at  night  throwing  sand  or  dust  into  wakeful  eyes  that  should 
be  asleep. 

I  hope  you  like  "  Willie  Winkie/'  and  that  many  of  you 
will  commit  it  to  memory.  The  prince  of  song  makers,  Robert 
Burns,  wrote  nearly  always  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  and  no  one 
can  afford  not  to  understand  it  readily. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Written :  Find  iti  some  volume  of  your  school  library, 
or  anywhere  you  can,  a  lullaby  that  you  consider  especially 
pleasing.     Copy  this  lullaby,  and  read  it  aloud  in  class. 

II.  Written :  Learn  from  the  oldest  persons  you  know 
lullabies  sung  in  their  own  childhood.  Copy  every  line  care- 
fully, upon  a  typewriter  if  possible.  If  the  lullaby  be  an  old 
one  and  partly  forgotten,  copy  as  much  of  it  as  you  can  obtain. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  page  write  your  name,  age,  location,  the 
date,  and  the  name  of  the  person  giving  you  the  song.  After 
these  lullabies  have  been  read  in  class,  bind  or  paste  them  into 
a  lullaby  book  for  future  school  use. 

III.  Mental,  and  then  Written :  Try  to  write  a  little 
lullaby  of  four,  six,  or  eight  lines.  Be  sure  that  it  will  sing. 
If  you  succeed,  show  your  teacher  what  you  have  written. 


CHAPTER  XI 

A    LETTER   DIARY 

This  language  of  ours  is  in  some  sort  like  a  steam  engine  ; 
dead"  engine,  with  fires  out  and  boiler  cold,  but  a 
swift,  powerful,  "  live  "  locomotive,  ready  to  answer  instantly 
the  touch  of  its  master's  hand.  Now,  no  one  can  run  a  loco- 
motive-engine well  without  training,  and  he  must  also  keep 
every  least  part  bright  and  shining  and  well  oiled.  His  work 
means  good  or  ill,  perhaps  life  or  death,  to  other  human  beings. 

So  it  is  with  that  still  more  wonderful  engine  called  lan- 
guage. A  word  spoken,  a  word  even  looked,  has  often  meant 
death,  or  has  meant  life.  Hence,  of  all  man's  inventions,  any 
other  one  could  be  spared  more  easily  than  this  contrivance  for 
thinking  and  for  communicating  thought. 

Just  as  we  need  practice  in  learning  to  use  skilfully  the 
simplest  tool,  even  a  boy's  jackknife,  so  we  also  need  much 
practice  in  order  to  gain  command  of  that  great  thought 
machine,  our  mother  tongue.  For  this  reason,  you  need  to 
begin  now  a  daily,  careful  practice  in  its  use.  And,  because 
most  children  like  to  write  letters,  and  often  write  very  good 
letters  indeed,  I  shall  ask  you  to  put  your  work  into  the  form 
of  continuous  letters.  A  continued  letter,  recounting  daily 
occurrences  and  written  for  one's  self,  is,  in  fact,  a  diary. 
Diaries  differ  in  tone  from  ordinary  letters  scarcely  at  all, 
except  that  they  are  apt  to  be  more  frank  and  unreserved.  • 

Mere  records  of  the  weather  do  not  make  either  letter  or 

65 


66  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

diary.  There  must  enter  into  any  real  letter  the  wish  to  tell 
something  to  another ;  and  there  must  enter  into  a  real  diary 
much  of  one's  inmost  thought.  To  write  just  what  you  think 
about  things  and  about  people  will  make  your  letters  or  diary 
of  real  interest  and  value  to  your  friends. 

I  ask  you  to  begin  now  a  full  account  of  yourself  and  of 
all  that  touches  your  everyday  life,  telling  this  in  your  own 
everyday  English,  in  as  short,  plain  words  as  possible. 

Do  not  fear  that  any  object  or  event  is  too  small  or  too 
mean  to  interest  others,  if  only  it  interests  yourself.  Two  of 
our  most  famous  short  poems  were  written  upon  "  The  Grass- 
hopper and  the  Cricket,"  as  the  result  of  a  merry  challenge 
from  Keats  to  Leigh  Hunt.  Thus  you  see  it  is  the  way  one 
looks  at  common  objects  that  invests  them  with  beauty  and 
charm.  Your  fairy  godmother,  your  own  fancy,  may  transform 
all  your  mental  ore  into  gold,  if  you  will  but  let  her  have  her 
own  way  with  your  pen. 

When,  fifty  years  from  now,  your  grandchildren  coax  you 
to  tell  stories  about  your  own  childhood,  as  some  of  them  surely 
will,  perhaps  you  will  look  up  your  first  letter  diary  and  read  to 
them  many  of  its  stories ;  they  will  certainly  like  these  best  of 
all.  It  is  possible,  too,  that  this  book,  if  carefully  kept,  may 
some  time  furnish  yourself  great  pleasure  thru  all  that  it  will 
recall. 

But  if  your  imagination  cannot  jump  ahead  fifty  years  to 
your  own  possible  old  age,  you  can  at  least  fancy  that  each 
letter  is  written  to  your  mother,  to  your  father,  to  your  teacher, 
to  your  closest  friend,  to  any  distant  or  imaginary  person.  Or 
you  may,  if  you  choose,  personify  your  own  book  and  address 
your  letters  "  My  dear  Diary,"  as  Helen  Keller  did. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  67 

I  hope  that  everyone  reading  your  diary  will  be  able  to  see 
you  there,  your  home,  your  family,  your  pets,  your  books,  your 
daily  tasks  and  play,  your  good  times  and  your  bad  times,  your 
ambitions,  and  your  disappointments. 

Kemember  that  you  are  free  to  talk  about  any  subject 
whatsoever.  Otherwise,  you  would  have  a  composition  book, 
not  a  real  diary ;  and  I  wish  these  books  to  be  true  to  their 
name.  Talk  to  yourself  about  the  things  that  you  like  to  talk 
about ;  but  be  sure  your  pen  merely  talks  for  your  tongue,  and 
that  it  does  not  preach,  nor  try  to  teach  an  imaginary  reader  or 
audience.  The  outline  given  for  your  guidance  is  merely 
suggested.  If  you  prefer  some  other  order,  follow  your  own 
choice ;  and  I  shall  be  pleased  if  you  have  a  decided  preference 
of  your  own. 

The  letters,  or  the  diary,  should  be  written  in  a  good-sized 
blankbook  with  margin,  this  book  being  used  for  no  other 
purpose. "^  Each  day  should  have  its  own  full  date  upon  the 
first  line  at  the  right,  or  within  the  margin  at  the  left ;  thus, 
Monday,  November  24,  1902. 

Boys  and  girls,  I  know,  seldom  choose  to  copy  their  letters, 
yet  I  think  it  would  be  best  for  you  to  copy  into  this  book 
from  a  first  draft,  so  that  you  may  be  sure  of  saying  just  what 
you  wish  to  say,  without  getting  your  ideas  or  your  sentences 
into  a  tangle. 

First  of  all,  make  a  little  outline  or  list  of  the  things  you 
wish  to  mention,  so  that  your  account  may  be  clear  and  orderly. 
See  that  each  sentence  tells  some  one  complete  thought ;  also, 
see  that  each  paragraph  tells  about  some  one  subdivision  of  the 

*  A  special  notebook  has  been  prepared  for  this  purpose  called  Pupil's 
Letter  Diary,  or  Helper  Number  Two. 


68  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

subject.  Thus  in  treating  a  parlor  you  may  have:  (1)  Its 
general  form,  including  size,  height,  and  shape  ;  (2)  its  doors, 
how  many  and  how  placed;  (3)  its  windows,  how  placed ;  (4)  its 
walls,  their  color,  and  covering,  if  any ;  (5)  its  floor,  material, 
appearance,  covering ;  (6)  its  furniture,  piece  by  piece ;  (7)  its 
pictures  or  other  furnishings  ;  (8)  other  items.  This  outline 
will  fill  seven  or  more  paragraphs.  Such  outlines  will  vary 
with  each  room  you  are  to  describe ;  and  an  orderly  arrange- 
ment will  help  to  good  paragraphing.  Of  course,  I  do  not 
need  to  ask  you  to  remember  to  indent  every  paragraph. 

These  letters  will  not  be  read  aloud  in  class,  without  your 
permission,  and  you  shall  not  be  greatly  blamed  in  case  you 
occasionally  misspell  a  word,  so  long  as  you  steadily  gain  on  the 
whole.  Your  spelling  will  improve  if  you  constantly  watch  for 
your  own  errors.  Remember,  in  particular,  that  an  untidy  or 
an  illegible  letter  is  never  complimentary  or  respectful  to  the 
one  to  whom  it  is  written. 

The  famous  stories  of  Robinson  Crusoe  and  of  the  Swiss 
Family  Robinson  are  not  really  diaries  at  all,  but  are  tales  put 
into  the  diary  form  for  the  sake  of  greater  seeming  reality. 
Both  stories  are,  however,  founded  upon  actual  fact  in  regard 
to  the  situation  of  the  persons  concerned.  The  diary  method 
has  always  been  used  more  or  less  in  story  telling,  and  is  a 
favorite  today  with  some  of  our  best  authors. 

Among  the  many  famous  diaries,  there  are  three  which 
you  will  be  sure  to  enjoy  when  you  are  somewhat  older. 
One  of  these  gives  the  best  obtainable  picture  of  colonial 
life  in  New  England.  It  was  written  by  Judge  Samuel 
Sewall  of  Boston, —  the  very  man  who  married  Hannah  Hull, 
daughter  of  Captain  John  Hull,  mintmaster.     You  may  remem- 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  69 

ber  that  she  is  called  Betsey  in  the  story  of  the  "  Pine  Tree 
Shillings."* 

You  see  in  Judge  SewalFs  diary  a  wise  and  brave  Puritan, 
who  was  afraid  of  thunderstorms,  believed  in  signs,  drove  a  nail 
into  a  new  house  or  church  for  a  charm,  helped  condemn  the 
Salem  "  witches,"  yet  afterward  publicly  confessed  his  sin,  ask- 
ing prayers  for  God's  pardon.  Especially  interesting  and 
amusing  are  the  minute  accounts  of  his  various  courtships,  two 
of  which  secured  him  his  second  and  third  wives,  after  the  good 
Betsey  had  gone  to  her  reward. 

The  second  diary  was  made  up  by  Henry  D.  Thoreau  of 
extracts  from  his  numerous  diaries,  with  a  volume  each  for 
Spring,  Smnmer,  Autumn,  and  Winter,  This  series  is  among 
the  most  precious  of  our  American  writings. 

The  third  diary  is  older  in  date  than  the  others,  but  is 
younger  in  thought  and  feeling.  It  is  the  best  possible  history 
of  manners  for  the  period  in  which  it  was  written,  and  is  as 
interesting  as  a  story.  We  cannot  help  liking  the  merry 
writer,  whose  cheery  and  thankful  disposition  brightens  every 
page.  This  man,  Samuel  Pepys,  the  son  of  a  tailor,  became  an 
officer  of  state  under  Charles  the  Second.  He  tells  us  that  he 
saw  King  Charles  the  First  beheaded,  and  likewise  the  first 
blood  shed  in  revenge  for  that  deed ;  how  one  day  he  saw  a 
certain  man  hanged,  "  he  looking  as  cheerful  as  anyone  could 
in  that  condition."  We  read  of  his  ailments  and  their  cures ; 
his  vexations  and  worries  ;  his  gayeties  and  jests ;  his  winnings 
and  losings ;  his  plasterings  and  upholsterings ;  his  precious 
musical  instruments  and  the  songs  he  so  loved  to  sing  to  them. 
We  know  where,  when  and  what  he  ate   and  drank,  and  in 

*  In  "  Grandfather's  Chair,"  by  Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 


70  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

whose  company.  We  see  him  on  Lord's  Day  listening  to  good 
sermons  and  dry  sermons,  fine  anthems  and  anthems  ill  sung, 
at  which  latter  Charles  II  made  free  to  laugh.  We  see  him 
impatient  over  his  wife's  carelessness  in  laying  up  her  expensive 
new  finery,  but  we  also  see  him  always  sorry  after  his  impa- 
tience, and  he  says,  "  But  we  were  friends  again,  as  we  are 
always."  We  see  him  teaching  his  wife  music  and  delighted  over 
her  aptitude.  When  they  attend  a  fine  wedding,  he  says,  "But 
among  all  the  beauties  there,  my  wife  was  thought  the  greatest." 

We  see  him  at  thirty  years  of  age  rising  at  four  in  the 
morning  for  several  successive  days  to  learn  the  multiplication 
table,  "  which  was  all  the  trouble  he  met  withal  in  his  arith- 
metique,"  and  we  see  him  spending  a  forenoon  memorizing 
Hamlet's  "  To  6e,  or  not  to  66."  And  yet  he  has  all  the 
interest  common  at  that  day  in  gold  buttons  and  silver  buttons, 
long  cloaks  and  short  cloaks,  velvet  and  silk  and  cloth  garments 
for  himself  and  for  his  wife.  We  are  glad  or  sorry  with  him 
in  his  good  or  in  his  bad  luck.  We  are  interested,  too,  in  the 
many  quaint  customs  he  relates,  as  that  of  Charles  II  wearing 
purple  for  mourning.  In  a  word,  we  live  with  him  in  his  own 
day  and  world.  Incidentally  we  absorb  much  knowledge  of 
the  everyday  English  of  that  period,  and  we  note  both  strange 
and  familiar  turns  of  speech. 

Because  he  is  always  honest  and  truthful,  we  forget  his 
misdeeds  and  oft  broken  resolutions,  and  remember  only  to  be 
amused  over  his  ever  fresh  repentance. 

The  following  few  lines  from  this  famous  Diary  will  show 
you  the  manner  of  speech  in  which  it  was  written  : 

I  having  but  three  pence  in  my  pocket  made  shift  to  spend  no  more, 
whereas  if  I  had  had  more  I  had  spent  more,  as  the  rest  did,  so  that  I  see 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  71 

it  is  an  advantage  to  a  man  to  carry  little  in  his  pocket.  ...  So 
home  to  dinner  where  I  found  my  wife  making  of  pies  and  tarts  to  try  her 
oven  with,  but  not  knowing  the  nature  of  it,  did  heat  it  too  hot,  and  so  a 
little  overbake  her  things,  but  knows  how  to  do  better  another  time. 

To  the  theatre,  where  was  acted  "  Beggars'  Bush,"  it  being  very 
well  done ;  and  here  the  first  time  that  ever  I  saw  women  come  upon  the 
stage.     [January  3,  1661.]     .     . 

It  is  strange  what  weather  we  have  had  all  this  winter ;  no  cold  at 
all ;  but  the  ways  are  dusty  and  the  flyes  fly  up  and  down  and  the  rose- 
bushes are  full  of  leaves,  such  a  time  of  the  year  as  was  never  known  in 
this  world  before  here. 

After  dinner  .  .  .  Tom  and  I  and  my  wife  to  the  theatre  and 
there  saw  "The  Silent  Woman."  The  first  time  that  ever  I  did  see  it 
and  it  is  an  excellent  play.  Among  other  things  here  Kinaston,  the  boy, 
had  the  good  turn  to  appear  in  three  shapes :  first,  as  a  poor  woman  in 
ordinary  clothes,  to  please  Morose ;  then  in  fine  clothes,  as  a  gallant  and 
was  clearly  the  prettiest  woman  in  the  whole  house,  and  lastly  as  a  man ; 
and  then  likewise  did  appear  the  handsomest  man  in  the  house.  And  then 
by  link  to  my  cosen  Stadwicke's. 

The  boy  failing  to  call  us  up  as  I  commanded,  I  was  angry,  and 
resolved  to  whip  him  for  that  and  many  other  faults  today. 
Home,  and  to  be  as  good  as  my  word,  I  bade  Will  get  me  a  rod,  and  he 
and  I  called  the  boy, —  and  there  I  reckoned  all  his  faults  and  whipped 
him  soundly,  but  the  rods  were  so  small  I  fear  they  did  not  much  hurt  to 
him,  but  only  to  my  arm,  which  I  am  already,  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
not  able  to  stir  almost. 

SUGGESTED  OUTLINE   FOR  PUPIL'S  LETTER  DIARY 

Monday. —  All  that  has  happened  on  the  two  preceding  days. 

Tuesday. —  1 .  A  full  and  kindly  account  of  yourself  and  your 
own  family,  one  after  another,  including  in  each  case  height,  form,  hair, 
features,  dress,  habits,  employments,  likes  and  dislikes  and  pleasures ; 
giving,  first  of  all,  an  honest  description  of  yourself  as  you  fancy  you 
might  appear  to  someone  else. 


72  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

2.  Later,  of  any  other  persons  whom  you  consider  of  interest;  of 
any  characters  whom  you  have  followed  thru  a  book ;  or  of  any  imaginary 
characters  whom  you  may  choose  to  picture  to  your  own  mind. 

Wednesday. —  A  description  of  your  own  home  and  life,  describing : 

(1)  Your  own  town  or  village;  its  size,  nationality,  population, 
interesting  and  important  features; 

(2)  your  own  street  and  what  can  be  seen  on  it ; 

(3)  your  own  house ; 

(4)  the  rooms  in  it,  one  or  more  at  a  time,  until  all  the  interior  has 
been  pictured; 

(5)  the  barns  and  any  other  outside  features  of  interest; 

(6)  your  pets  and  any  other  animals  at  your  home ; 

(7)  your  favorite  work,  game,  picture,  story,  book,  friend,  poem, 
hero  or  heroine,  room,  house,  town,  climate,  life,  with  full  account  of 
reasons  for  preference ; 

(8)  a  full  account  of  the  things  you  can  do,  including  their  pleasant 
and  unpleasant  features  and  their  usefulness  to  yourself  or  to  others ; 

(9)  your  chief  desires  and  hopes. 

Thursday. —  A  story,  learned  from  hearsay  ;  or  summarized  from  a 
story  or  book  previously  read ;  or  invented  from  your  own  fancy ;  or  what 
you  would  like  to  do  if  you  were  a  bird,  an  animal,  your  own  pencil,  a 
South  Sea  Islander,  an  influential  public  citizen,  or  any  other  person  or 
thing  than  what  you  are. 

Friday. —  A  full  explanation  of  some  domestic,  agricultural,  or  man- 
ufacturing process  or  occupation;  or  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  any 
creature,  person,  or  class  of  people ;  or  a  statement  of  the  good  and  bad 
points  about  any  one  mode  of  life,  place  of  dwelling,  etc. ;  or  later,  the 
reasons  why  you  like  a  certain  book,  or  picture,  or  person. 

[On  this  day,  if  possible,  consult  chiefly  observation  and  judgment, 
rather  than  memory  of  what  has  been  read.] 

Note. —  In  beginning  the  diary,  you  may,  if  you  like,  treat  first  the  Tuesday 
topic,  and  after  this,  begin  the  narration  of  actual  events. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  73 

ADDITIONAL  SUGGESTED  TOPICS  FOR  THE   LETTER  DIARY 

What  I  saw  on  the  way  to  church. 

How  I  help  Mother  [Father]  on  Saturday. 

Just  how  I  made  the  bread  [cake,  pie]. 

The  Saturday  housework  [barn  work] . 

What  the  minister  [any  other  person]  said. 

Our  rules  for  playing  ball  [marbles,  dominoes,  authors]. 

The  baby  at  our  house  and  all  about  him  [her]. 

Our  kitchen  [any  other  room]  in  the  evening. 

The  person  I  know  best  of  all. 

The  best  time  I  ever  had  [a  picnic,  excursion,  journey,  ride]. 

What  I  would  choose  to  be  and  to  do. 

The  biography  or  autobiography  of  my  doll  [jackknife,  shoe,  gun, 
umbrella,  hammer,  a  bone  button,  a  shoepeg,  a  comb,  a  seal- 
skin cap,  an  almanac,  a  whip,  a  watch] . 

September  [October,  November,  etc.]  farm  work  [housework]. 

What  I  know  about  silos  and  ensilage ;  root  cellars ;  market  products  ; 
the  city  market ;  feeding  stock ;  gardening ;  fall  plowing ;  wheat, 
or  other  crops. 

My  Christmas  shopping. 

What  we  did  on  Christmas  Eve  [any  other  holiday] . 

My  vegetable  [flower]  garden. 

My  visit  to  a  flour  mill,  cooper  shop,  woolen  mill,  blacksmith  shop 
[any  manufactory] . 

Just  how  my  horse  was  shod. 

The  busiest  time  of  year  [day]  upon  a  farm. 

Cuban  farming  compared  with  our  own. 


EXERCISES 

I.  Written:  Begin  a  continued  narrative,  in  accordance 
with  the  suggestions  of  this  chapter,  adding  to  it  from  time  to 
time  according  to  the  directions  of  your  teacher. 


74  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

II.  Mental:  Consider  whether  or  not  paragraphing 
helps  to  the  understanding  of  what  we  read,  and  why. 

III.  Mental:  Remembering  that  in  all  careful  writing 
each  group  of  sentences  relating  to  some  one  point  should 
make  a  single  paragraph,  study  carefully  your  own  first  pages 
and  observe  (1)  whether  you  have  paragraphed  as  well  as 
possible ;  (2)  whether  you  have  indented  each  paragraph. 

Note  :  Do  this  before  beginning  to  copy  into  the  blankbook  you  are  to  use 
for  your  letter  diary. 


Winter 


The  frost  is  here, 

And  fuel  is  dear, 

And  woods  are  sear. 

And  fires  burn  clear, 

And  frost  is  here 

And  has  bitten  the  heel  of  the  going  year. 

Bite,  frost,  bite ! 

You  roll  up  away  from  the  light 

The  blue  woodlouse,  and  the  plump  dormouse, 

And  the  bees  are  still'd,  and  the  flies  are  kill'd. 

And  you  bite  far  into  the  heart  of  the  house, 

But  not  into  mine. 

Bite,  frost,  bite ! 

The  woods  are  all  the  searer. 

The  fuel  is  all  the  dearer, 

The  fires  are  all  the  clearer. 

My  spring  is  all  the  nearer. 

You  have  bitten  into  the  heart  of  the  earth. 

But  not  into  mine. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 


CHAPTEK  Xn* 

A   POEM-STUDY 

Whenever  the  busy  days  of  school  life  allow,  each  one 
should  see  us  becoming  familiar  with  a  masterpiece  of  literature. 
This  work  every  person  must  do  largely  by  himself ;  but  today 
we  may  all  give  ourselves  into  the  hands  of  a  master  writer, 
our  own  poet  Longfellow.  From  his  lips  we  shall  learn  a  story 
and  lesson  of  the  beautiful. 

The  Norman  Baron  f 

In  his  chamber,  weak  and  dying, 
Was  the  Norman  baron  lying  ; 
Loud,  without,  the  tempest  thundered, 
And  the  castle-turret  shook. 

In  this  fight  was  Death  the  gainer. 
Spite  of  vassal  and  retainer. 
And  the  lands  his  sires  had  plundered, 
Written  in  the  Doomsday  Book. 

By  his  bed  a  monk  was  seated. 
Who  in  humble  voice  repeated 
Many  a  prayer  and  pater-noster. 
From  the  missal  on  his  knee. 

And,  amid  the  tempest  pealing. 
Sounds  of  bells  came  faintly  stealing, 

*  This  chapter  may  well  be   studied  about  the  middle  of  December.     Its 
order  in  relation  to  other  chapters  need  not  be  regarded. 

t  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub. 
Ushers  of  Longfellow's  works. 

75 


76  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Bells,  that  from  the  neighboring  kloster, 
Rang  for  the  Nativity. 

In  the  hall,  the  serf  and  vassal 

Held,  that  night,  their  Christmas  wassail ; 

Many  a  carol,  old  and  saintly, 

Sang  the  minstrels  and  the  waits ; 

And  so  loud  these  Saxon  gleemen 
Sang  to  slaves  the  songs  of  freemen, 
That  the  storm  was  heard  but  faintly 
Knocking  at  the  castle-gates. 

Till  at  length  the  lays  they  chanted 
Reached  the  chamber  terror-haunted, 
Where  the  monk,  with  accents  holy, 
Whispered  at  the  baron's  ear. 

Tears  upon  his  eyelids  glistened. 
As  he  paused  awhile  and  listened. 
And  the  dying  baron  slowly 

Turned  his  weary  head  to  hear. 

Wassail  for  the  kingly  stranger 
Born  and  cradled  in  a  manger ! 
King,  like  David,  priest,  like  Aaron, 
Christ  is  born  to  set  us  free !  " 

And  the  lightning  showed  the  sainted 
Figures  on  the  casement  painted, 
And  exclaimed  the  shuddering  baron, 
''  Miserere,  Domine! " 

In  that  hour  of  deep  contrition 
He  beheld,  with  clearer  vision. 
Through  all  outward  show  and  fashion, 
Justice,  the  Avenger,  rise. 


(( 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  77 

All  the  pomp  of  earth  had  vanished, 
Falsehood  and  deceit  were  banished, 
Reason  spake  more  loud  than  passion, 
And  the  truth  wore  no  disguise. 

Every  vassal  of  his  banner. 
Every  serf  born  to  his  manor. 
All  those  wronged  and  wretched  creatures, 
By  his  hand  were  freed  again. 

And,  as  on  the  sacred  missal 
He  recorded  their  dismissal. 
Death  relaxed  his  iron  features. 

And  the  monk  replied,  *'Amen!  " 

Many  centuries  have  been  numbered 
Since  in  death  the  baron  slumbered 
By  the  convent's  sculptured  portal. 
Mingling  with  the  common  dust. 

But  the  good  deed,  through  the  ages 
Living  in  historic  pages. 
Brighter  grows  and  gleams  immortal, 
Unconsumed  by  moth  or  rust. 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow. 

I.  Read  and  re-read  this  poem,  until  you  get  its  story. 
II.  Try  to  picture  to  your  own  mind  the  scenes  indicated : 
1.  The  chamber  in  the  castle,  where  lies  the  dying  baron, 
weak,  helpless,  shaken  by  the  thunder  peals  that  rock  his  castle 
turret;  the  form  of  the  monk,  repeating  from  the  mass-book 
upon  his  knee  the  communion  service  for  the  dying,  his  voice 
low  and  humble  as  becomes  his  station ;  amid  the  tempest  gusts, 
a  faint  sound  of  bells,  telling  that  the  monastery  near  by  pro- 
claims the  sacred  night  of  Christ's  birth;   the  silence  of  the 


78  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

chamber  scarcely  broken  by  the  low  tones  of  the  monk,  and 
its  quiet  the  more  awful  by  contrast  with  the  howling  storm 
outside. 

2.  In  sharp  contrast  to  the  baron's  chamber,  see  next  a 
picture  of  feasting  and  song  and  merriment.  In  the  great  hall 
of  the  castle,  the  baron's  retainers,  from  lordly  vassal  to  mean- 
est serf,  hold  Christmas  revelry,  apparently  ignoring,  but  per- 
haps unaware  of,  the  condition  of  their  lord.  The  holy, 
ancient  carols  are  sung  by  Norman  minstrels  and  Saxon  glee- 
men ;  and  the  waits,  or  watchmen,  piping  upon  their  horns,  add 
to  the  volume  of  the  sound.  The  Saxon  "  wassail "  (waes- 
hael,  be  well)  is  drunk  for  the  welfare  of  Christ's  cause  upon 
earth. 

3.  The  song  rises  to  the  chamber  above.  It  reaches  the 
monk's  ears.  His  voice  pauses  in  repeating  the  prayers,  and 
his  tears  fall.  The  baron  also  hears  and  listens.  As  he  notes 
the  words,  "  Christ  is  born  to  set  us  free,"  his  heart  is  stirred 
with  a  strange  tenderness.  At  this  moment,  the  lightning 
throws  out  into  startling  distinctness  the  beautiful  figures  of 
saints,  wrought  in  the  stained  glass  of  the  great  windows,  and 
he  exclaims  in  sudden  remorse,  "  Pity,  0  Lord ! "  (Miserere 
Domine.) 

4.  See  him  now  eager  to  undo  the  wrongs  done  by  his 
fathers  to  the  Saxons,  whose  persons  they  had  enslaved,  and 
whose  lands  they  had  seized,  writing  these  down  as  their  own 
forever  in  the  great  Norman  Domesday  Book,  which  was  to 
remain  unchanged  till  the  day  of  Doom. 

5.  Now,  as  his  last  act,  see  him  record  upon  the  holy 
mass-book  the  words  which  make  free  the  serfs,  who  were 
attached  tp  the  soil  in  its  transfer  almost  as  if  they  had  been 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  79 

trees  or  buildings,  and  also  the  greater  vassals  who  owed  him 
duty  as  overlord,  and  who  had  fought  for  him  in  his  wars. 
See  peace  come  to  the  stern  face  when  he  has  at  last  obeyed 
the  demands  of  "  Justice,  the  Avenger." 

6.  And,  last  of  all,  behold  a  low,  rounded  Norman  arch, 
ornamented  with  sculptured  zigzag,  spiral,  and  dogtooth  patterns, 
marking  the  doorway  of  the  convent  where  the  proud  baron 
was  laid  to  rest. 

Having  heard  this  story,  we,  too,  are  glad  that  the  good 
deed  was  done,  and  that  it  has  lived  immortal  thru  the  ages. 

From  among  many  I  select  one  beautiful  old  carol : 

Christmas  Carol 

As  Joseph  was  a-walking, 
He  heard  an  angel  sing, 
"  This  night  shall  be  the  birthnight 
Of  Christ  our  heavenly  King. 

"  His  birth-bed  shall  be  neither 
In  housen  nor  in  hall, 
Nor  in  the  place  of  paradise, 
But  in  the  oxen's  stall. 

*'  He  neither  shall  be  rocked 
In  silver  nor  in  gold, 
But  in  the  wooden  manger 
That  lieth  in  the  mould. 

'»  He  neither  shall  be  washen 

With  white  wine  nor  with  red, 
But  with  the  fair  spring  water 
That  on  you  shall  be  shed. 


80  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

*'  He  neither  shall  be  clothed 
In  purple  nor  in  pall, 
But  in  the  fair,  white  linen 
That  usen  babies  all." 

As  Joseph  was  a-walking. 

Thus  did  the  angel  sing. 
And  Mary's  son  at  midnight 

Was  born  to  be  our  King. 

Then  be  you  glad,  good  people. 

At  this  time  of  the  year ; 
And  light  you  up  your  candles, 

For  His  star  it  shineth  clear. 

Old  English. 

The  Saxons  had  a  quaint  custom  of  wassailing  other 
things  than  persons,  as  you  may  see  from  the  following  old 
lines : 

Wassaile  the  Trees,  that  they  may  beare 
You  many  a  Plum,  and  many  a  Peare ; 
For  more  or  lesse  fruits  they  will  bring, 
As  you  doe  give  them  Wassailing. 

Robert  Herrick. 

The  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  concentrated  itself  in  the  vast  castle  hall, 

where  the  baron  looked  down  from  his  upper  dais  on  the  retainers  who 

gathered  at  his  board. 

John  Bichard  Qreen. 

Songs  and  legends  were  the  literature  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  .  .  . 
Games  of  every  sort  were  the  lawful  amusements  of  idle  hours  and  of 
festivals.  ...  In  the  eighth  century  a  laboring  man  was  disgraced 
among  his  fellows  if  he  could  not  sing  to  the  harp. 

Charles  Pearson. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  81 

EXERCISES 

1.  Oral  and  the7i  Written  in  wordbooks  (on  pages 
provided  under  Miscellany),  with  citation  of  this  poem . 
Short,  clear  definitions  of : 

1 .  Minstrel,  gleeman,  wait ; 

2.  Vassal,  serf,  retainer; 

3.  Missal,  amen,  paternoster; 

4.  Cloister,  turret,  portal,  casement; 

5.  Baron,  monk,  sires. 

II.  Oral :  1.  Cloister  is  a  general  name  :  what  is  the 
specific  name  for  a  cloister,  or  convent,  of  monks?  For  a 
cloister,  or  convent,  of  nuns  ? 

2.  Is  tower  or  turret  the  more  general  term  ? 

3.  Was  the  wassail  feast  Saxon  or  Norman  in  origin  ? 

4.  Is  this  a  common  rime  scheme :  dying,  lying,  thun- 
dered, shook ;  gainer,  retainer,  plundered,  book ;  or,  aahc,  ddhcf 
Observe  other  poems  in  your  readers  and  then  decide. 

III.  Mental :  What  picture  in  the  story  do  you  like 
best  to  recall  ?  What  effect  upon  the  "  slaves  "  did  "  the  songs 
of  freemen  "  seem  to  have  ?  Is  the  word  knock  used  properly 
of  the  storm?  Why?  Can  you  find  in  the  poem  two  other 
cases  of  personification  like  this  ? 

What  stanza  holds  for  yourself  the  climax  of  interest  in 
the  story  ?  Would  the  picture  be  weaker  or  stronger,  in  case 
justice  were  not  spoken  of  as  a  person,  and  if  the  poet  had 
simply  said,  "The  baron  began  to  think  about  being  just"? 
Do  you  see  that  rime  and  meter,  or  measure,  of  syllables,  add 
to  the  music  and  hence  to  the  beauty  of  the  story.  Observe 
how  contrast  constantly  adds  to  the  effect  of  the  pictures. 


82  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

IV.  Mental :  In  men,  oxen,  children,  brethren,  and  kine 
(cows),  we  have  a  few  relics  of  the  ending  en,  very  common  in 
early  English.  Find  in  the  old  Christmas  carol  quoted  in  this 
chapter  three  other  words  which  formerly  had  this  ending. 

V.  Oral:  A  class  discussion  upon  Christmas  customs 
in  various  lands. 

VI.  Mental :  Read  also  "  The  Three  Kings,"  by  Long- 
fellow. 

VII.  Oral:  The  reading  or  reciting  of  a  program  of 
Christmas  carols,  these  to  be  collected  by  pupils  from  all 
possible  sources. 


Christmas  Tide* 


Christmas  tide  is  a  time  of  cold, 

Of  weathers  bleak  and  of  winds  a-blow ; 

Never  a  flower  —  fold  on  fold 

Of  grace  and  beauty  —  tops  the  snow 

Or  breaks  the  black  and  bitter  mold. 

And  yet  'tis  warm  —  for  the  chill  and  gloom 
Glow  with  love  and  with  childhood's  glee  ; 

And  yet  'tis  sweet  —  with  the  rich  perfume 
Of  sacrifice  and  of  charity. 

Where  are  flowers  more  fair  to  see  ? 

Christmias  tide,  it  is  warm  and  sweet : 
A  whole  world's  heart  at  a  Baby's  feet ! 

Bichard  Burton. 

Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  Small,  Maynard  &  Company. 


CHAPTEE  XIII 

ON   LETTER   WRITING 

People  write  more  letters  today  than  ever  before.  This  is 
partly  because  pen,  ink,  and  paper  are  no  longer  expensive,  and 
partly  because  modern  civilization  has  made  reading,  writing, 
and  composition  a  part  of  every  child's  education. 

Letters  are  now  probably  shorter,  on  the  whole,  than  ever 
before,  and  some  persons  fear  that  the  beautiful  art  of  fine 
letter  writing  is  in  danger  of  becoming  lost.  Other  persons, 
whose  opinion  we  may  trust,  assure  us,  on  the  contrary,  that 
never  before  has  the  world  been  so  full  of  graceful  and  elegant 
letter  writers. 

Every  letter  is  excellent  which  tells  of  interesting  things 
in  a  simple  and  natural  way.  People  write  best,  therefore, 
about  the  things  that  touch  themselves  most  closely ;  for  it  is 
in  these  that  their  interest  lies.  The  informal  or  familiar  letter 
is  the  one  most  frequently  written.  In  its  ideal  form  it  is 
simply  a  pen  chat  between  two  good  friends  on  matters  of 
mutual  interest,  with  the  personal  note  prominent.  It  must  not 
be  overwise  or  overwitty,  and  it  must  not  labor  in  its  flow. 
Moreover,  its  chief  aim  can  no  longer  be  that  of  news  carrier, 
for  the  daily  newspaper  long  ago  relieved  it  of  this  once 
important  of&ce. 

Some  very  poor  talkers  prove  to  be  excellent  letter  writers. 
You  may  care  to  know  that  Oliver  Goldsmith,  whose  pen  seems 
to  flow  of   itself,  was    a    total  failure    in    conversation.     The 


84  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

careful  writing  out  of  your  chit-chat  will  be  one  of  the  surest 
aids  toward  learning  to  converse  well.  First  and  last  and  all 
the  time  one  must  be  frank  and  sincere,  or  the  written  words 
will  not  ring  true.  In  proportion  as  the  soul  of  the  writer 
shines  out  between  the  lines  will  the  letter  be  of  value,  for 
every  glimpse  of  a  human  soul  is  precious  and  to  be  held  in 
reverence. 

In  formal  or  semi-familiar  letters,  it  is  customary  to  place 
the  address  of  the  writer  at  the  close  of  the  letter.  No  better 
adage  can  be  taken  to  heart  here  than  that  "  familiarity  breeds 
contempt."  Therefore,  err  on  the  side  of  formality  in  address- 
ing strangers  and  mere  acquaintances.  The  most  formal  com- 
munications of  all  will  say  he,  she,  and  they,  instead  of  /,  we, 
and  you.  Observe  this  upon  all  formal  invitations.  This  is  a 
very  convenient  fashion  for  all  kinds  of  short  notes  to  persons 
with  whom  you  have  too  slight  acquaintance  to  use  the  more 
familiar  forms. 

While  it  is  impossible  to  lay  down  general  rules  for  every 
sort  of  letter,  there  is  one  rule  that  always  holds  good :  The 
beginning  and  the  close  of  a  letter  must  he  courteous  and  suited 
to  its  occasion,  while  its  general  tone  must  conform  to  all  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  is  written. 

Absolute  freedom  is  allowed  in  the  beginning  and  in  the 
close  of  friendly  letters.  Intimate  friends  may  be  wholly 
informal.  A  noble  letter  of  sympathy  from  one  man  to  another 
began,  "  Ned,  I  can  not  tell  you  how  grieved  I  am  over  the 
terrible  news."  A  loving  letter  from  a  father  to  his  daughter 
began,  "  Well,  Ella,  I  could  not  come  to  you  this  week." 

Every  formal  signature  should  show  the  sex  of  its  writer, 
and  that  of  a  lady  should  also  show  whether  or  not  she  is 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  85 

married.  Initials  alone  may  be  used  by  men,  but  it  is  better 
form  to  write  the  first  name  in  full.  Julius  E.  Smith  is  a  more 
dignified  and  distinctive  signature,  hence  more  desirable,  than 
simply  J.  E.  Smith. 

A  lady  still  unmarried  may  sign  herself  Ella  A.  Brown  to 
her  friends,  while  for  strangers  she  will  write  (Miss)  Ella  A. 
Brown.  After  marriage,  social  custom,  business  convenience, 
and  good  taste  all  decree  that  she  use  her  husband's  customary 
signature,  prefixing  Mrs.  By  observing  this  custom  a  woman 
shows  delicate  respect  to  her  husband,  while  at  the  same  time 
she  consults  her  own  natural  dignity  and  refinement  which  sug- 
gest that  her  Christian  name  be  not  given  needless  prominence 
or  publicity.  Widows  need  not  now  use  their  own  given 
names,  unless  they  so  choose.  Formerly,  Mrs.  Ella  E,  Day 
was  supposed  to  indicate  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Day  is  a  widow.  A 
married  woman  must  use  her  own  given  name  in  signing  legal 
documents  and  professional  or  other  business  papers.  She  may 
also  sign  thus  to  her  intimate  friends,  while  to  mere  acquaint- 
ances she  should  use  the  more  dignified  social  form. 

Good  taste  and  the  teachings  of  conscience  alike  forbid  us 
to  commit  to  paper  unkind  or  doubtful  statements.  Tattle  or 
gossip  about  our  friends  and  neighbors  is  the  most  undesirable 
of  all  material  for  one's  letters.  To  chat  about  things  and 
events  rather  than  about  people  is  a  wise  course,  unless  we 
have  only  kind  things  to  say.  As  we  grow  older  and  wiser  we 
learn  to  place  our  interests  less  and  less  in  the  small  and  petty. 
Hence,  an  early  avoidance  of  all  unkind  gossip  is  the  right 
start  toward  leading  our  thoughts  to  the  best  things  in  life. 

Few  people  are  called  upon  to  write  formal  compositions ; 
but  frank,  sunshiny  letters  are  possible  to  all,  and  are  a  sure 


86  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

means  of  conferring  pleasure.  To  write  as  you  talk  will  be  to 
carry  your  own  presence  to  friends  who  should  consider  your 
letter  as  the  next  best  substitute  for  your  own  company. 
Remember,  that  your  friends  do  not  want  from  you  an  essay  or 
a  sermon ;  what  they  do  want  is  a  glimpse  of  you. 

Business  letters  are  the  very  opposite  of  friendly  ones. 
Here  one  needs  to  study  how  to  say  the  most  in  the  fewest 
words.  A  business  letter  may  well  be  written  and  rewritten  till 
it  can  be  no  further  condensed.  Here  every  item  of  heading, 
address,  and  signature  must  be  accurate  and  complete.  Thus 
you  see  at  once  that  the  model  writer  of  business  letters  may  be 
a  failure  in  the  friendly  epistle ;  while  the  friend  whose  pen  chat 
we  most  enjoy  may  make  a  poor  shift  at  business  writing.  By 
practice,  however,  one  may  easily  excel  in  both. 

Midway  between  very  familiar  letters  and  those  strictly 
upon  business  lies  a  large  class  of  social  communications  which 
express  all  possible  shades  of  respectful  formality,  as  well  as 
every  form  and  degree  of  courtesy.  Notes  of  invitation,  of 
regret,  of  congratulation,  of  condolence  and  sympathy,  of  intro- 
duction, are  a  few  of  the  most  common.  In  brief  social  forms 
one  may  follow  any  good  model.  In  letters  not  to  one's 
intimate  friends,  good  taste  and  social  usage  alike  demand 
that  we  state  clearly  and  in  correct  form  when,  where,  by 
whom,  and  to  whom,  the  letter  is  written.  There  are  reasons 
for  this  rule  besides  those  of  convenience  ;  and  to  disregard 
good  form  in  letters  of  courtesy  is  properly  considered  to  show 
a  lack  of  good  breeding.  The  following  hints  will  be  found 
valuable : 

As  to  mechanical  details,  a  legible  hand  is  of  first  importance. 
Flourishes  are  not  in  good  taste.     To  abbreviate  common  words  shows 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  87 

indolence  and  lack  of  respect  for  one's  correspondent.  All  numbers 
except  dates  and  the  number  of  a  house  should  be  expressed  in  words, 
and  the  street  number  should  be  written  in  full.  Black  ink  and  unruled 
paper  are  most  approved :  lined  paper  hints  that  the  writer  lacks  skill. 
A  note  may  be  written  upon  pages  one  and  three  ;  if  longer  than  this,  the 
order  should  be  one,  two,  three,  four.  A  mode  now  somewhat  prevalent 
takes  the  order,  four,  one,  two,  three.  This  method  has  some  advantages, 
but  is  not  commonly  employed.  The  close  should  harmonize  with  the  sal- 
utation which  has  preceded.  Thus,  the  close,  "  Vei-y  respectfully,"  should 
not  follow  "My  dear  Sister."  In  formal  business  letters,  Miss  or  Mrs. 
in  parentheses  should  precede  the  signatures  of  women.  All  pre- titles  are 
more  respectful  if  written  out  in  full,  except  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  which  are 
always  abbreviated,  and  Dr.,  which  usually  is.  The  best  authorities 
regard  abbreviations  Gen.,  Col.,  Capt.,  Pres.,  etc.,  as  impolite.  They  are 
certainly  not  in  the  best  taste  and  are  not  indorsed  by  our  best  publica- 
tions. Write  "  The'*  Reverend  before  the  names  of  clergymen.  Mistress 
is  still  used  in  England  and  Scotland  as  pre-title,  but  in  America  we  have 
shortened  it  to  Miss  and  to  Mrs.  The  plural  of  Miss  JSmith  is  the  Miss 
/Smiths,  and  the  plural  of  Mrs.  Smith  is  the  Mrs,  JS7niths.  A  woman 
should  not  herself  use  nor  be  addressed  by  her  husband's  pre-title ;  as, 
Mrs.  Senator  Brown,  Mrs.  General  Jones.  When  using  post-cards,  omit 
salutation  and  complimentary  close  and  all  confidential  communications. 
It  is  a  breach  of  good  manners  to  read  the  superscriptions  upon  envelopes 
and  post-cards  of  other  people,  or  to  read  the  post-cards  entrusted  to  one's 
self  for  delivery.  It  is  unwise  to  combine  business  and  personal  affairs  in 
the  same  letter. 

I  give  you  here  examples  of  letters  written  by  two  of  the 
greatest  masters  of  English  that  the  race  has  ever  produced. 
One  of  these  is  part  of  a  familiar  letter  written  to  his  own  little 
daughter  by  the  man  who  composed  our  great  Declaration  of 
Independence.  The  second  is  by  a  man  who  used  a  wooden 
shovel  for  his  scratchbook,  yet  who  so  trained  himself  that  his 
letters  are  correct  in  every  least  detail.     His  penmanship  was 


88  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

careful  to  the  point  of  elegance.  His  spelling,  punctuation, 
and  capitalization  were  as  conscientious  as  his  manner  of 
expression. 

The  first  letter  was  long  held  dear  by  a  great  queen  and 
empress.     Here  is  its  story  : 

Queen  Victoria  was  an  assiduous  collector  of  autographs,  and  it  is 
an  interesting  and  curious  fact  that  one  of  the  most  precious  treasures  of 
her  large  collection  is  a  letter  written  by  Thomas  Jefferson  to  his  daughter 
Martha  when  she  was  eleven  years  old.  Her  Majesty  frequently  showed 
it  to  American  visitors.  Although  Jefferson  was  an  uncompromising 
enemy  of  England  throughout  his  entire  life,  cherishing  an  unreasonable 
hostility  to  everything  British,  Queen  Victoria  admired  him  as  much  as 
did  any  American.  The  simplicity  of  his  life  and  the  tender  interest  he 
manifested  toward  his  childi-en  seemed  to  touch  her  heart. 

She  obtained  this  letter  from  Mrs.  Randolph,  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  some  time  after  his  death.  Her  fad  for  collecting  auto- 
graphs was  then  at  its  height,  and  she  requested  the  foreign  office  at 
London  to  secure  for  her  a  typical  example  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  writing. 
Mr.  Vail,  the  British  charge  at  Washington,  forwarded  the  request  to 
Mrs.  Randolph,  who,  appreciating  Queen  Victoria's  character,  and  know- 
ing her  love  for  children,  selected  a  letter  which  she  had  received  from  her 
father  during  her  childhood.  It  is  dated  Annapolis,  November  28,  1783, 
and  is  addressed  to  "My  dear  Patsy."  After  expressing  the  sorrow  he 
felt  in  parting  with  her  at  the  school  in  which  she  was  placed,  he 
says : 

"  The  acquirements  which  I  hope  you  will  make  under  the  tutors  I 
have  provided  for  you  will  render  you  more  worthy  of  my  love,  and  if 
they  cannot  increase  it,  they  will  prevent  its  diminution.  With  respect 
to  the  distribution  of  your  time,  the  following  is  what  I  should  approve : 

"  From  eight  to  ten  practice  music. 

* '  From  ten  to  one  dance  one  day  and  draw  another. 

"From  one  to  two  draw  on  the  day  you  dance  and  write  a  letter 
next  day. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  89 

''  From  three  to  four  read  French. 

''From  four  to  five  exercise  yourself  in  music. 

**From  then  till  bedtime  read  English,  write,  etc. 

*'  Take  care  that  you  never  spell  a  word  wrong.  Always  before  you 
write  a  word  consider  how  it  is  spelled,  and  if  you  do  not  remember  it, 
turn  to  a  dictionary.     It  produces  great  praise  to  a  lady  to  speU  well. 

"If  ever  you  are  about  to  say  anything  amiss  or  to  do  anything 
wrong,  consider  beforehand  and  you  will  feel  something  within  you 
which  wiU  tell  you  it  is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be  said  or  done. 
This  is  your  conscience,  and  be  sure  to  obey  it.  Our  Maker  has 
given  us  this  faithful  internal  monitor,  and  if  you  always  obey  it,  you  will 
always  be  prepared  for  the  end  of  the  world,  or  for  a  more  certain  event, 
which  is  death. 

"  I  have  placed  my  happiness  on  seeing  you  good  and  accomplished, 
and  no  distress  which  this  world  can  now  bring  on  me  would  equal  that 
of  your  own  disappointing  of  my  hopes.  If  you  love  me,  then  strive  to 
be  good  under  every  situation,  and  to  all  living  creatures,  and  to  acquire 
those  accomplishments  which  will  go  far  toward  assuring  you  the  warmest 
love  of  your  affectionate  father, 

"Thomas  Jefferson." 

From  the  Chicago  Becord. 

The  second  letter  has  been  engrossed  and  framed  and 
hung  in  one  of  the  Oxford  (England)  university  halls  as  a 
specimen  of  the  purest  English  and  the  most  elegant  diction. 
I  hope  you  will  read  it  many  times  until  its  nobility  of  thought, 
its  beauty  and  simplicity  of  expression,  have  become  a  part  of 
your  own  mental  possessions. 

Dear  Madam : —  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  war  depart- 
ment a  statement  of  the  adjutant-general  of  Massachusetts,  that  you  were 
the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the  battlefield.  I  feel 
how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  word  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to 
beguile  you  from  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming. 


90  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

But  I  cannot  refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may 
be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  republic  they  died  to  save.  I  pray 
that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your  bereavement, 
and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost  and  the 
solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the 
altar  of  freedom. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

EXERCISES 

I.     Oral :     Discover  by  discussion  the  consensus  of  class 
opinion  upon  the  following  topics : 

1.  Some  uses  suitable   to   the  various   standard   sizes  of   paper, 
namely : 

foolscap  (about  eight  by  thirteen  inches) 

letter  paper  (about  eight  by  ten  inches  or  a  trifle  larger) 

commercial  note  (about  five  by  eight  inches) 

packet  note  (about  five  and  three-fourths  by  nine  inches) 

note  (all  smaller  sizes) 

2.  The  desirability  or  otherwise  of  highly  colored  papers  and  inks. 

3.  The  desirability  of   having   paper  and  envelopes  matched   or 
nearly  alike  in  color,  size,  weight,  etc. 

4.  The  advantage  or  otherwise  of  wax  as  compared  with  gummed 
surfaces. 

5.,    The   hygiene  of   using  a  sponge  rather  than   the   tongue   for 
moistening  gummed  surfaces. 

6.  Some  probable  reasons  for  frequent   changes  in   the  style  of 
fashionable  note  papers. 

7.  The  sizes,  tints,  and  weight  of  paper  always  in  good  taste, 
and,  on  the  whole,  most  convenient. 

8.  Some  good  reasons  in  favor  of  unruled  paper. 

9.  Some  reasons  why  everyone  should  be  able  to  write  a  good- 
looking  page  without  the  aid  of  lines  upon  or  underneath  the  sheet  used. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  91 

10.  The  cori'ect  manner  of  folding  commercial  note  and  letter 
paper  so  that  each  will  fit  the  envelope  commonly  used  for  either. 

11.  A  simple  rule  to  cover  all  cases  where  a  stamp  should  be 
enclosed  for  reply. 

12.  Some  obvious  good  features  of  the  plan  for  learning  a  foreign 
language  thru  con-espondence  with  some  one  in  a  foreign  country,  this 
system  being  now  actually  employed  in  several  places  in  this  country; 
some  possible  disadvantages  also. 

13.  The  politeness  or  otherwise  of  sealing  a  note  to  be  delivered  by 
a  friend. 

II.     Suggested  Oral: 

1.  With  samples  in  the  hands  of  pupils,  discuss  a  collection  of 
formal  invitations  and  declinations,  or  regrets,  which  have  been  in  actual 
use.  Let  these  be  gathered  from  any  available  source  by  pupils  and 
teacher  and  kept  for  reference.  Consider  items  of  spacing,  arrangement, 
printing  or  engraving,  etc.,  as  matters  of  custom  and  of  taste. 

2.  In  the  same  manner,  discuss  a  similar  collection  of  all  the  dif- 
ferent bills,  bill-heads,  and  receipted  bills  that  the  class  can  collect, 
noting  similarities  and  differences  and  any  other  interesting  points. 

3.  In  like  manner,  discuss  a  collection  of  blank  and  of  cancelled 
bank  checks.  Determine  in  this  discussion  whether  a  bank  check  is  also 
practically  a  receipt ;  also,  how  many  times  it  may  be  used  as  a  receipt 
and  to  whom  it  has  this  use  last. 

4.  In  like  manner,  discuss  a  collection  of  all  sorts  of  short  adver- 
tisements, collected  from  some  of  the  best  possible  publications.  After 
agreeing  upon  a  few  model  forms,  paste  these  for  future  reference  upon  a 
sheet  of  manila  or  other  stiff  paper. 

5.  A  report  from  committees  of  the  class  who  shall  have  obtained 
information  (1)  as  to  whether  the  name  of  the  county  on  mail  sent  to  very 
small  towns  is  necessary  to  insure  safe  delivery,  or  is  chiefly  desirable  as 
an  aid  to  rapid  postal  service;  (2)  as  to  the  work  done  inside  one  of 
Uncle  Sam's  mail  cars  ;  (3)  as  to  the  most  common  annoyances  to  postal 
clerks  in  the  matter  of  unsatisfactory  addresses ;  (4)  as  to  how  minute 
should  be  the  items  of  a  letter  heading  to  ensure  prompt  return  mail ;    (5) 


92  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

as  to  what  sort  of  business  form  the  average  self-supporting  citizen  will 
probably  most  often  need  to  make  out. 

III.     Suggested   Written : 

1.  Write  formal  notes  of  invitation,  of  acceptance,  of  declination 
with  regrets,  for  a  picnic  or  some  other  social  gathering. 

2 .  Make  out  in  correct  form  a  bill  to  your  teacher  for  all  your  school 
properties  to  the  least  item,  with  a  reasonable  valuation  assigned  to  each. 
Write  her  a  receipt  also  for  the  total  amount  of  the  bill. 

3.  Assuming  that  you  have  become  a  self -supporting  citizen,  write 
out  your  own  receipt  to  some  other  person  for  cash  for  rent,  for  borrowed 
money,  for  cash  due  you  for  board,  and  for  any  other  item  you  select. 

4.  Write  out  a  suitable  advertisement  of  something  wanted  or  for 
sale. 

5.  Answer  in  as  good  form  as  possible  an  advertisement  cut  from 
a  newspaper. 

6.  State  an  imaginary  but  possible  case  where  omission  or  error  in 
location,  date,  address,  or  signature,  gave  rise  to  some  fortunate  result  or 
to  the  reverse.  Make  this  as  explicit  as  possible,  and  if  convenient,  write 
in  story  form. 


Forbearance  * 


Hast  thou  named  all  the  birds  without  a  gun? 

Loved  the  wood-rose,  and  left  it  on  its  stalk? 

At  rich  men's  tables  eaten  bread  and  pulse? 

Unarmed,  faced  danger  with  a  heart  of  trust? 

And  loved  so  well  a  high  behavior. 

In  man  or  maid,  that  thou  from  speech  refrained. 

Nobility  more  nobly  to  repay  ? 

O,  be  my  friend,  and  teach  me  to  be  thine ! 

Balph  Waldo  Emerson. 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub- 
lishers of  Emerson's  works. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ON   THE   USE   OF   ABBREVIATIONS 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  many  names  are  often  abbre- 
viated, or  cut  off.  They  are  then  called  abbreviations,  and 
must  be  followed  by  a  period,  to  show  that  the  name  is  not 
written  in  full.  Certain  titles,  or  forms  of  address,  showing 
honors,  position,  or  respect,  are  nearly  always  thus  abbreviated. 

These  abbreviations  are  most  apt  to  occur  in  letter 
headings,  addresses,  and  business  papers.  In  your  arithmetic 
examples  and  in  certain  business  papers  you  may  use  mathe- 
matical abbreviations ;  but  in  your  letters  and  language  exer- 
cises you  are  not  permitted  to  use  either  figures  or  abbreviations, 
except  in  a  few  definite  cases,  such,  for  example,  as  tables  of 
statistics.  To  use  them  elsewhere  is  to  proclaim  either  igno- 
rance of  correct  form,  or  shiftlessness  and  indolence.  This  is 
an  important  matter,  the  more  so  because  it  is  one  not  usually 
understood.  You  have  only  to  study  a  few  issues  of  the  very 
best  magazines,  such  as  The  Atlantic,  The  Century,  Harper^ s, 
The  Outlook,  or  Scribner^s,  to  see  what  are  correct  forms  in 
writing.  Your  school  readers,  too,  are  usually  printed  correctly. 
Remember  that  the  use  of  a  newspaper  is  not  sufficient 
authority  for  any  form,  since  many  excellent  newspapers  are 
sadly  careless  in  these  matters. 

The  most  scholarly  writers  do  not  often  abbreviate  the 
names  of  the  days  of  the  week  nor  of  the  months  of  the  year ; 
and   it   is   only  permissible   to   do    so   in   case   the  full   date, 

93 


94  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

including  the  year,  is  given.  How  absurd  the  poems  in  Lesson 
VII  would  look,  if  the  names  of  months  and  of  days  had  been 
abbreviated !  To  employ  as  few  abbreviations  as  possible  is  a 
safe  rule,  and  is  also  in  accordance  with  the  present  wise 
tendency  among  good  writers.  In  calendars  the  names  of  the 
days  are  often  abbreviated  to  save  space.  In  a  diary,  also, 
this  may  possibly  be  allowed.  But  in  formal  letters  and  notes 
the  full  form  should  be  used  in  accordance  with  the  usual 
practice  of  our  best  writers  of  literature.  Thus  you  may  write 
February  twenty-second ^  or  February  ^^,  or  Feb.  22^  1900,  but 
never  Feb:  22.  The  textbooks  indorsing  this  incorrect  form 
show  in  their  own  pages  of  literature  that  it  is  not  good  form 
after  all.  Then  do  not  by  your  own  usage  indorse  forms  which 
well-printed  publications  condemn  as  ignorant  and  shiftless. 

It  is  required  by  courtesy  that  in  written  addresses  we 
always  use  the  titles  Master,  Miss,  Mister,  or  Mistress.  The 
two  former  are  never  abbreviated,  and  the  two  latter  always 
are.  The  only  other  title  besides  Mr.  and  Mrs.  that  is  used 
alone  is  Dr.  for  Doctor.  And  while  you  may  see  a  sign 
reading  Dr.  Smith,  you  will  do  well  to  remember  that  Doctor 
Smith  is  a  better  form  wherever  the  initials  are  omitted.  You 
may  use  either  of  the  following  forms : 

Professor  Case,  or  Prof.  A,  B.  Case 

Superintendent  Case,  or  Supt.  A.  B.  Case 

Captain  [^Colonel,  General']  Case,  or  Capt.  [^Gol.,  Gen.']  A.  B.  Case 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Case,  or  the  Rev.  A.  B.  Case 

The  Honorable  Mr.  Case,  or  the  Hon.  A.  B.  Case 

While  you  may  omit  the  the  in  writing  the  two  last  titles, 
you  must  not  omit  it  in  oral  speech,  hence  it  is  safer  always  to 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  95 

write  it.  Notice  the  title  of  a  certain  modern  novel,  "  The 
Honorable  Peter  Stirling." 

As  the  use  of  titles  is  chiefly  to  show  respect,  it  is  urged 
by  some  very  particular  persons  that  pre-titles  should  always  be 
written  in  full,  even  when  the  initials  occur  also.  Since  no  one 
objects  to  the  full  form,  you  are  certain  to  give  no  offence  when 
you  thus  write  every  title  in  full.  Certainly,  the  appearance  of 
a  written  name  is  far  more  pleasing  to  the  eye  when  no  titles 
are  cut  off.  Professor  Richard  T,  Ely  is  a  more  courteous 
form  than  Prof,  R:  T.  Ely  ;  but  remember  always  that  Prof 
Ely,  Rev,  Smith,  and  similar  forms  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
most  carefully  printed  publications. 

Here  are  two  other  important  cautions : 

1.  You  must  not  abbreviate  the  name  of  a  State,  unless 
the  name  of  town,  or  of  county,  precedes.  Even  then  it  is 
better  form  to  write  all  out  in  full,  and  many  business  houses 
now  require  that  the  names  of  States  be  always  written  in  full. 
Thus  you  may  write  Austin,  Mower  County,  Minn.,  or  Austin, 
Minnesota,  or  even  Austin,  Mimi,,  but  never  In  Minn. 

2.  You  may  not  use  the  abbreviations  A.M.,  P.M.,  or 
M.  unless  a  given  hour  or  day  precedes,  as  12  M. ;  Tuesday 
A.M. 

The  title  Esq.  for  Esquire  is  sometimes  used  instead  of 
Mr.  as  a  mark  of  especial  respect.  It  is  usually  given  in  the 
United  States  as  a  sign  of  the  legal  profession,  and  in  England 
to  all  literary  and  professional  men.  As  a  mere  mark  of  respect 
it  is  now  used  less  than  formerly.  When  used,  it  is  separated 
from  the  surname  by  a  comma,  as,  A.  B.  Case,  Esq. 

The  title  Honorable  is  given,  in  the  United  States,  to  all 
members  and  ex-members  of  Congress  and  of  State  legislatures, 


96  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

to  judges,  justices,  and  certain  other  judicial  and  executive 
officers.  Be  careful  to  use  pre-titles  in  addressing  all  persons 
to  whom  they  rightfully  belong. 

While  abbreviations  are  seldom  desirable  in  written  forms, 
they  are  doubly  rude  in  oral  language.  To  say  "  Prof"  and 
"  Supe  "  for  Professor  and  Superintendent  is  not  respectful,  for 
one  cannot  put  a  period  into  the  voice  to  show  that  no  dis- 
courtesy is  intended. 

If  you  are  in  doubt  as  to  how  to  address  a  gentleman, 
remember  that  Mr,,  oral  or  written,  is  always  respectful  and  in 
good  form.  Since  no  dignity,  however  great,  should  ever  be 
claimed  by  its  owner,  it  follows  that  no  person  will  ever  use 
titles  of  any  sort  in  his  signatures,  except  in  official  documents. 
A  hotel  register  bears  simply  the  names  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
Cyrus  Northrop,  James  K,  Hosmer, 

The  term  professor  has  come  to  be  incorrectly  conferred 
upon  nearly  every  male  teacher.  Hence  there  has  come  to  be 
a  quiet  effort  on  the  part  of  many  real  professors  to  return  to 
the  simple  title  Mr.  Any  title  used  improperly  loses  thereby  its 
especial  meaning  and  becomes  less  honorable  and  distinctive. 

You  will  not  write  Mr.  before  a  name  when  you  write 
Esq.  after  it,  and  you  will  not  write  Dr.  before  a  name  when 
you  have  a  title  reading  Doctor  after  the  name,  such  as  M.D., 
D.D.,  or  LL.D.  Neither  will  you  use  Reverend  when  you  use 
D.D.  We  say  of  this  use  that  the  greater  title  includes  the 
less.  Thus  you  see  that  there  may  often  be  two  or  three 
correct  ways  of  writing  the  same  name. 

At  the  back  of  this  book  may  be  found  a  list  of  abbrevia- 
tions ;  but  it  is  less  important  that  you  know  how  to  write  these, 
than  that  you  remember  not  to  use  them  in  ordinary  manuscript. 


EVEllVDAY   ENGLISH  97 

People  of  culture  and  taste  use  few  abbreviations,  and  fewer  as 
they  grow  older.  No  scholarly  person  besprinkles  his  pages 
with  them.  The  full  form  is  always  right  and  almost  always 
better.  The  more  formal  a  note  or  a  letter,  the  less  excuse  for 
shortening  of  words.  Hence,  to  write  Street,  Avenue,  or  Place 
in  full  is  now  considered  more  polite  than  to  abbreviate,  and 
the  custom  extends  to  the  names  of  streets.  20  Third  Street 
is  a  better  form  to  follow  than  W  Srd  St.,  and  is  also  clearer 
in  meaning. 

While  honors  and  titles  are  very  good  things  in  their  way, 
and  not  to  be  despised,  there  are,  however,  better  things  in  life 
for  us  to  desire.  After  reading  carefully  the  two  following 
poems,  try  to  determine  in  your  own  minds  just  what  things 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  here  shows  that  he  prized  more  highly 
than  either. 

Bill  and  Joe  * 

Come,  dear  old  comrade,  you  and  I 
Will  steal  an  hour  from  days  gone  by, 
The  shining  days  when  life  was  new, 
And  all  was  bright  with  morning  dew. 
The  lusty  days  of  long  ago, 
When  you  were  Bill  and  I  was  Joe. 

Your  name  may  flaunt  a  titled  trail 
Proud  as  a  cockerel's  rainbow  tail, 
And  mine  as  brief  appendix  wear 
As  Tam  O'Shanter's  luckless  mare ; 
Today,  old  friend,  remember  still 
That  I  am  Joe  and  you  are  Bill. 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub- 
lishers of  Holmes'  worlds. 


98  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

You've  won  the  great  world's  envied  prize, 
And  grand  you  look  in  people's  eyes, 
With  HON  and  L  L  D, 
In  big  brave  letters,  fair  to  see, — 
Your  fist,  old  fellow !  off  they  go ! — 
How  are  you,  Bill?     How  are  you,  Joe? 

You've  worn  the  judge's  ermined  robe  ; 
You've  taught  your  name  to  half  the  globe  ; 
You've  sung  mankind  a  deathless  strain ; 
You've  made  the  dead  past  live  again ; 
The  world  may  call  you  what  it  will. 
Hut  you  and  I  are  Joe  and  Bill. 

The  chaffing  young  folks  stare  and  say, 
*'  See  those  old  buffers,  bent  and  gray, — 
They  talk  like  fellows  in  their  teens ! 
Mad,  poor  old  boys,  that's  what  it  means,"- 
And  shake  their  heads  ;  they  little  know 
The  throbbing  hearts  of  Bill  and  Joe  ! — 

How  Bill  forgets  his  hour  of  pride, 
While  Joe  sits  smiling  at  his  side ; 
How  Joe,  in  spite  of  time's  disguise, 
Finds  the  old  schoolmate  in  his  eyes, — 
Those  calm,  stern  eyes  that  melt  and  fill 
As  Joe  looks  fondly  up  at  Bill. 

Ah,  pensive  scholar,  what  is  fame? 
A  fitful  tongue  of  leaping  flame ; 
A  giddy  whirlwind's  fickle  gust. 
That  lifts  a  pinch  of  mortal  dust ; 
A  few  swift  years,  and  who  can  show 
Which  dust  was  Bill  and  which  was  Joe  ? 

The  weary  idol  takes  his  stand. 

Holds  out  his  bruised  and  aching  hand, 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  99 

While  gaping  tliousands  come  and  go, — 
How  vain  it  seems,  this  empty  show ! 
Till  all  at  once  his  pulses  thrill ; — 
'Tis  poor  old  Joe's  "  God  bless  you,  Bill !  '* 

And  shall  we  breathe  in  happier  spheres 
The  names  that  pleased  our  mortal  ears : 
In  some  sweet  lull  of  harp  and  song 
For  earth-born  spirits  none  too  long, 
Just  whispering  of  the  world  below 
Where  this  was  Bill,  and  that  was  Joe? 

No  matter ;  while  our  home  is  here 

No  sounding  name  is  half  so  dear ; 

When  fades  at  length  our  lingering  day, 

Who  cares  what  pompous  tombstones  say? 

Read  on  the  hearts  that  love  us  still, 

Hie  jacet*  Joe.     Hie  Jacet  Bill. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

The  BoYst 

Has  any  old  fellow  got  mixed  with  the  boys? 
If  there  has,  take  him  out,  without  making  a  noise. 
Hang  the  Almanac's  cheat  and  the  Catalogue's  spite! 
Old  Time  is  a  liar !     We're  twenty  tonight ! 

We're  twenty  !     We're  twenty  !     Who  says  we  are  more? 
He's  tipsy, —  young  jackanapes? — show  him  the  door  ! 
**  Gray  temples  at  twenty?  " — Yes !  white  if  we  please  ; 
Where  the  snowflakes  fall  thickest  there's  nothing  can  freeze! 

Was  it  snowing  I  spoke  of  ?     Excuse  the  mistake ! 
Look  close, —  you  will  not  see  a  sign  of  a  flake ! 
AVe  want  some  new  garlands  foi  those  we  have  shed, — 
And  these  are  white  roses  in  place  of  the  red. 
♦  Latin  :  here  lies. 

t    lieprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub- 
lishers of  Holmes'  works. 


100  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

We've  a  trick,  we  young  fellows,  you  may  have  been  told, 
Of  talking  (in  public)  as  if  we  were  old ; — 
That  boy  we  call  "  Doctor,"  and  this  we  call  '^  Judge ;  " 
It's  a  neat  little  fiction, —  of  course  it's  all  fudge. 

That  fellow's  the  "  Speaker," — the  one  on  the  right; 
'*  Mr.  Mayor,"  my  young  one,  how  are  you  tonight? 

That's  our  *'  Member  of  Congress,"  we  say  when  we  chaff ; 
There's  the  '' Reverend"  What' s-his-name? — don't  make  me 
laugh. 

That  boy  with  the  grave  mathematical  look 
Made  believe  he  had  written  a  wonderful  book. 
And  the  ROYAL  SOCIETY  thought  it  was  true! 
So  they  chose  him  right  in  ;  a  good  joke  it  was,  too ! 

There's  a  boy,  we  pretend,  with  a  three-decker  brain. 

That  could  harness  a  team  with  a  logical  chain  ; 

When  he  spoke  for  our  manhood  in  syllabled  lire, 

We  called  him  "  The  Justice,"  but  now  he's  "The  Squire." 

And  there's  a  nice  youngster  of  excellent  pith, — 
P'ate  tried  to  conceal  him  by  naming  him  Smith ; 
But  he  shouted  a  song  for  the  brave  and  the  free, — 
Just  read  on  his  medal,  "  My  Country,"  "  of  thee!  " 

You  hear  that  boy  laughing?  —  You  think  he's  all  fun  ; 
But  the  angels  laugh,  too,  at  the  good  he  has  done  ; 
The  children  laugh  loud  as  they  troop  to  his  call. 
And  the  poor  man  that  knows  him  laughs  loudest  of  all ! 

Yes,  we're  boys, —  always  playing  with  tongue  or  with  pen, — 
And  I  sometimes  have  asked, —  Shall  we  ever  be  men? 
Shall  we  always  be  youthful,  and  laughing,  and  gay, 
Till  the  last  dear  companion  drops  smiling  away? 

Then  here's  to  our  boyhood,  its  gold  and  its  gray ! 
The  stars  of  its  winter,  the  dews  of  its  May ! 


EVERYDAY   ENGLI&'H'    A    j      y.'/y^/.'^■^:^/^tl^ 

And  when  we  liaAe  done  with  our  life-lasting  toys, 
Dear  Father,  take  care  of  Thy  children,  the  BOYS! 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

EXERCISES 

I.  By  oral  discussion,  determine  the  opinion  of  pupils  as 
to  wliicli  form  of  address  makes  the  more  artistic  appearance 
when  printed,  a  full  or  an  abbreviated  form. 

II.  Let  pupils  each  take  one  number  of  a  reputable  maga- 
zine to  examine  and  to  report  upon  in  class  in  written  list,  as  to 
all  abbreviations  used.  Odd  numbers  of  any  well-printed  pub- 
lications mav  be  used  if  masfazines  cannot  be  had. 

III.  Let  pupils  each  examine  one  carefully  printed  book, 
to  ascertain  whether  abbreviations  are  actually  used  there,  and, 
if  so,  to  what  extent :  reports  upon  this  to  be  oral  or  written, 
at  discretion  of  teacher. 

IV.  Determine  by  discussion  and  vote  the  opinion  of  the 
class  as  to  the  propriety  of  using  in  newspaper  headlines  abbre- 
viations which  would  not  be  allowed  in  a  first-class  magazine. 


Full  knee-deep  lies  the  winter  snow, 
And  the  winter  winds  are  wearily  sighing : 
Toll  ye  the  church-bell  sad  and  slow. 
And  tread  softly  and  speak  low. 
For  the  old  year  lies  a-dying. 

Old  year,  you  must  not  die  ; 

You  came  to  us  so  readily, 

Y'ou  lived  with  us  so  steadily, 

Old  year,  you  shall  not  die. 

From  '*  The  Death  of  the  Old  Year,''  by  Alfred  Tennyson. 


CHAPTEK   XV 

PICTURE   WORDS   AND   WORD   PICTURES 

Today  you  may  begin  to  think  about  the  pictures  in  words. 
Shut  your  eyes  after  reading  each  of  the  following  expressions 
and  try  to  decide  at  what  point  you  obtain  a  clear  mind  picture 
of  some  one  object. 

A  flower 

A  blue  flower 

A  small  blue  flower 

A  small,  blue  spring  flower 

A ? 

Can  you  guess  what  flower  I  have  in  mind  ? 

The  word  violet  is  upon  some  lips,  and  anemone  and  he- 
patica  upon  others.  If  I  had  added  the  word  fragrmit,  perhaps 
some  of  you  would  have  guessed  the  blue  English  violet,  whose 
least  tiny  blossom  proclaims  its  own  presence  as  loudly  as  if  it 
spoke. 

Try  to  form  a  mind  picture  for  the  following  group  of 
words : 

A  gorgeous,  stately,  nodding,  speckled  flower,  found  wild  and  also 
in  cultivation. 

Country  children  have  the  advantage  here,  and  some  of 
them  will  think  at  once  of  the  tiger  lily.  If  I  had  said  instead, 
A  stiff,  stately,  scarlet  July  flower^  they  might  have  guessed 
the  meadow  lily,  which  on  our  Western  prairies  weaves  thick, 
soft  carpets  for  cloud   shadow^s  to  walk  upon.     If,  instead   of 

102 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  103 

wild  lilies,  I  had  named  a  trolley  car,  it  would  have  been  the 
city  children  who  would  at  once  have  had  the  clearer  mind 
pictures.  Any  picture  word  may  call  up  to  you  all  that  you 
have  ever  known  in  connection  with  that  word.  If,  besides 
remembering  the  object,  you  also  see  a  clear  mind  picture  of 
the  thing  itself,  you  possess  within  your  own  mind  a  source  of 
much  pleasure,  in  the  recalling  of  familiar  scenes  and  faces. 

Observe  that  the  same  word  brings  different  pictures  to 
different  persons.  The  same  group  of  words  meant  violet^ 
aiiernone,  or  hepatica,  according  to  your  different  mind  pictures. 
So,  too,  the  word  home  means  to  each  of  you  a  different  place 
and  a  different  mind  picture. 

The  more  special,  or  sj^ecijic,  a  term  is,  the  clearer  mind 
picture  it  will  bring.  That  is  to  say,  special  terms  are  better 
picture  words  than  general  terms.  Thus  violet,  rose,  jf?a?is?/, 
each  gives  you  a  more  distinct  picture  thanflowe7\ 

By  a  simple  diagram  you  can  see  how  each  added  descrip- 
tive term  liviited,  or  confined,  your  thought  to  a  smaller  class 
than  before,  while  your  pictures  grew  at  the  same  time  more 
and  more  distinct.  The  diagram  can  be  arranged  in  many  ways, 
according  as  you  consider  one  or  another  point  first  in  order. 


104  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

Thus,  we  may  suppose  that  A  includes  all  flowers;  B  includes  all 
blue  flowers;  C  includes  all  small  blue  floicers;  D  includes  all  small^  blue^ 
spring  flowers ;  E  includes  all  small^  bhie^  spring  violets. 

Here  is  another  way  of  picturing  to  the  eye  the  smaller 
classes  included  in  a  larofer  class : 


If  the  circle  A  includes  all  lilies,  we  may  suppose  that  B,  C,  D,  and 
E  represent  variously  tiger  lilies,  lemon  lilies,  meadow  lilies,  and  lilies  of 
the  valley.      What  lilies  are  here  excluded  from  the  small  circles! 


You  may  notice  that  while  the  word  flower  includes  more 
objects,  it  means  much  less  than  the  word  violet.  In  other 
words,  while  flower  has  greater  ex'tent,  violet  has  greater  con- 
tent,  or  inecmiiig.  The  word  violet  means  even  more  than  the 
picture  phrase,  siiiall^  blue,  spring  flower,  which  also  indicates 
similar  flowers.  I  hope  you  see  by  this  how  much  more  one 
picture  word  may  often  mean  than  another  apparently  more 
important  in  itself. 

Observe  the  following  expressions,  which  might  also  be 
diagramed : 

A  little  red  schoolhouse. 

A  white,  vine-covered  cottage. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  105 

A  tall,  graceful,  fragrant  yellow  lily. 
A  low,  delicate,  fragrant  white  lily. 

Please  to  name  to  yourself  here  every  class  of  house,  cot- 
tage, and  lily  excluded  by  the  successive  descriptive  words. 

In  carrying  our  thoughts  to  other  people,  and  in  receiving 
thoughts  from  them,  we  constantly  use  word  pictures.  To  be 
able  to  make  others  see  things  as  we  see  them,  we  need  to 
become  painters  in  words.  For  language  is  as  full  of  color  as 
an  artist's  palette,  if  one  but  learn  to  use  the  brush. 

For  practice  in  the  use  of  words  that  may  help  you  make 
pictures,  I  give  you  many  names  for  which  you  are  to  find 
suitable  descriptive  terms.  In  doing  this  you  may  seek  help 
anywhere  and  everywhere,  after  you  have  first  called  up  out  of 
your  own  mind  all  the  suitable  words  that  you  can  find  there. 
In  this  work  it  will  help  you  to  study  carefully  the  features  of 
people  and  things  around  you,  and  to  observe  what  descriptive 
terms  occur  in  your  readers  and  other  books.  To  use  striking 
and  original  expressions  is  very  desirable,  in  case  these  are 
appropriate. 

Thus  Longfellow  says : 

Maiden  with  the  meek  brown  eyes. 

She  has  two  eyes  so  soft  and  brown. 

With  those  deep  and  tender  eyes. 

With  merry-making  eyes  and  Jocwnd  smile. 

Your  manner  of  using  descriptive  words  will  go  far 
toward  determining  the  style  of  your  writing.  To  excel  in  this 
use  is  to  become  an  artist  in  words.  Now  no  one  becomes  an 
artist  without  much  careful  practice ;  but  even  practice  grows  at 
last  enjoyable,  as  one  gradually  gains  skill. 


106  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

I  give  you  for  study  today  a  poem  full  of  very  beautiful 
word  pictures.  You  can  scarcely  read  the  poem  too  slowly. 
The  quiet,  sober  voice  will  slowly  call  up  picture  after  picture 
in  dull,  gray  colors  of  late  fall.  This  poem  was  a  favorite  with 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  it  deserves  all  the  thought  you  are  able 
to  give  it.  You  may  not  understand  every  line  at  first.  Some 
lines  you  may  not  fully  understand  for  a  good  while ;  but,  as 
you  read  it  over  and  over,  trying  to  see  every  one  of  its 
remarkable  word  pictures,  and  then  come  back  to  it  again  after 
weeks,  or  perhaps  months,  you  will  find  that  its  beauty  and 
meaning  have  grown  into  your  soul  and  become  a  part  of 
yourself. 

The  Closing  Scene 

Within  this  sober  realm  of  leafless  trees, 
The  russet  year  inhaled  the  dreamy  air, 

Like  some  tanned  reaper  in  his  hour  of  ease. 
When  all  the  trees  are  l^ang  brown  and  bare. 

The  gray  barns,  looking  from  their  hazy  hills, 
O'er  the  dim  waters  wid'ning  in  the  vales, 

Sent  down  the  air  a  greeting  to  the  mills, 
On  the  dull  thunder  of  alternate  flails. 

All  sights  were  mellowed,  and  all  sounds  subdued. 
The  hills  seemed  farther,  and  the  stream  sang  low ; 

As  in  a  dream  the  distant  woodman  hew'd 
His  winter  log,  with  many  a  muffled  blow. 

Th'  embattled  forests,  erewhile  armed  in  gold. 
Their  banners  bright  with  every  martial  hue. 

Now  stood  like  some  sad  beaten  hosts  of  old, 
Withdrawn  afar  in  time's  remotest  blue. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  107 

On  slumb'rous  wings  the  vulture  tried  his  flight, 

The  dove  scarce  heard  his  singing  mate's  complaint, 

And  like  a  star,  slow  drowning  in  the  light. 

The  village  church-vane  seemed  to  pale  and  faint. 

The  sentinel  cock  upon  the  hillside  crew  ; 

Crew  thrice,  and  all  was  stiller  than  before  — 
Silent  till  some  replying  wanderer  blew 

His  alien  horn,  and  then  was  heard  no  more. 

Where  erst,  the  jay  within  the  elm's  tall  crest. 

Made  garrulous  trouble  round  the  unfledged  young ; 

And  where  the  oriole  hung  his  sw^inging  nest 
By  every  light  wind  like  a  censer  swung ; 

Where  sang  the  noisy  masons  of  the  eaves, 

The  busy  swallows  circling  ever  near. 
Foreboding,  as  the  rustic  mind  believes. 

An  early  hai-vest  and  a  plenteous  year ; 

Where  every  bird  which  charmed  the  vernal  feast 
Shook  the  sweet  slumber  from  its  wings  at  morn, 

To  warn  the  reapers  of  the  rosy  east, — 
All  now  was  songless,  empty,  and  forlorn. 

Alone,  from  out  the  stubble  piped  the  quail. 

And  croaked  the  crow,  through  all  the  dreary  gloom ; 

Alone  the  pheasant,  drumming  in  the  vale. 
Made  echo  to  the  distant  cottage  loom. 

There  was  no  bud,  no  bloom  upon  the  bowers ; 

The  spiders  wove  their  thin  shrouds  night  by  night ; 
The  thistle-down,  the  only  ghost  of  flowers. 

Sailed  slowly  by  —  passed  noiseless  out  of  sight. 

Amid  all  this,  in  this  most  cheerless  air, 

And  where  the  woodbine  sheds  upon  the  porch 


108  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Its  crimson  leaves,  as  if  the  year  stood  there, 
Firing  the  floor  with  his  inverted  torch  — 

Amid  all  this,  the  centre  of  the  scene, 

The  white-haired  matron,  with  monotonous  tread. 

Plied  the  swift  wheel,  and  with  her  joyless  mien. 
Sat  like  a  Fate,  and  watched  the  flying  thread. 

She  had  known  sorrow.     He  had  walked  with  her. 
Oft  supped,  and  broke  with  her  the  ashen  crust. 

And  in  the  dead  leaves,  still  she  heard  the  stir 
Of  his  black  mantle  trailing  in  the  dust. 

While  yet  her  cheek  was  bright  with  summer  bloom, 
Her  country  summoned,  and  she  gave  her  all ; 

And  twice  war  bowed  to  her  his  sable  plume. 
Re-gave  the  swords  to  rust  upon  the  wall ;  — 

Re-gave  the  swords  —  but  not  the  hand  that  drew 
And  strack  for  liberty  the  dying  blow ; 

Nor  him  who  to  his  sire  and  country  true 
Fell  'mid  the  ranks  of  the  invading  foe. 

Long,  but  not  loud,  the  droning  wheel  went  on. 
Like  the  low  murmurs  of  a  hive  at  noon. 

Long  but  not  loud  the  memory  of  the  gone 

Breathed  through  her  lips  a  sad  and  tremulous  tune. 

At  last  the  thread  was  snapped,  her  head  was  bow'd  ; 

Life  dropped  the  distaff  through  his  hands  serene ; 
And  loving  neighboi'S  smoothed  lier  careful  shroud, 

While  Death  and  Winter  closed  tlie  Autumn  scene. 

Thomas  Buchanan  Bead. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


109 


EXERCISES 

I.  Oral:  Stanza  by  stanza,  name  the  successive  word- 
pictures  which  you  find  in  this  poem. 

II.  Or^al :  Name  the  word  picture  which  seems  to  you 
most  beautiful  o£  all  in  the  entire  poem,  with  any  reasons  that 
occur  to  you  for  your  liking  it. 

III.  Written  :     The  same. 

IV.  Mental:  Close  your  eyes  and  see  what  mind  pic- 
tures you  can  call  up,  corresponding  to  word  pictures  in  this 
poem. 

V.  Written,  for  permanent  use  and  reference:  In  your 
wordbook  arrange  columns  for  descriptive  terms  under  each  of 
the  following  names,  allowing  room  for  at  least  twenty  terms. 
Slowly,  day  by  day,  add  appropriate  descriptive  words  gathered 
from  reflection,  observation,  or  reading.  Avoid  repetition, 
when  possible. 


1. 

eyes 

14. 

hair 

28. 

cow  and 

41. 

child 

2. 

forehead 

15. 

teeth 

sheep 

42. 

villain  or 

3. 

nose 

16. 

chin 

29. 

a  friend 

coward 

4. 

cheeks 

17. 

water 

30. 

home 

43. 

hero  and 

5. 

eyebrows 

18. 

cloiid 

31. 

manner 

heroine 

6. 

complexion 

li). 

weather 

32. 

studies 

44. 

work 

7. 

head 

20. 

dress 

33. 

hair  and 

45. 

a  story 

8. 

neck 

21. 

flowers 

beard 

46. 

fire 

9. 

shoulders 

22. 

fruit 

34. 

voice 

47. 

laughter 

10. 

hands  and 

23. 

grass 

35. 

music 

48. 

valley 

fingers 

24. 

sky 

36. 

leaf 

49. 

colors 

11. 

lips  and 

25. 

storm 

37. 

tree 

50. 

sleep 

mouth 

26. 

air  and 

38. 

a  building 

51. 

months 

12. 

face 

atmosphere 

39. 

hill 

52. 

snow  and  ice 

13. 

foi-m 

27. 

horse  and  dog 

40. 

prairie 

110  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

VI.  Suggested  Supplementary  Work:  Let  some  poem 
of  Longfellow's,  as  "  Rain  in  Summer,"  "  The  Beleaguered 
City,"  or  "  The  Birds  of  Killing  worth,"  be  read  or  studied  in 
class,  observing  the  descriptive  terms  used. 

Note:  As  many  recitations  as  possible  may  here  be  given  to  suitable 
single  poems  by  American  or  English  writers,  following  out  the  method  of  study 
indicated  in  Chapters  XII  and  XV.     See  Appendix  for  suggested  poems. 


Already,  close  by  our  summer  dwelling, 

The  Piaster  sparrow  repeats  her  song ; 
A  merry  warbler,  she  chides  the  blossoms  — 

The  idle  blossoms  that  sleep  so  long. 

The  bluebird  chants,  from  the  elm's  long  branches, 

A  hymn  to  welcome  the  budding  year. 
The  south  wind  wanders  from  field  to  forest. 

And  softly  whispers,  "  The  Spring  is  here." 

Yet  these  sweet  sounds  of  the  early  season. 
And  these  fair  sights  of  its  sunny  days, 

Are  only  sweet  when  we  fondly  listen, 
And  only  fair  when  we  fondly  gaze. 

There  is  no  glory  in  star  or  blossom 

Till  looked  upon  by  a  loving  eye ; 
There  is  no  fragrance  in  April  breezes 

Till  breathed  with  joy  as  they  wander  by. 
From  "  An  Invitation  to  the  Country"  by  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 

♦Reprinted  by  permission  of  D,  Appleton  &  Company,  publishers  of  Bryant's 
complete  works. 


CHAPTEK  XVI 

UPON   THE  APOSTROPHE 

There  is  a  useful  little  mark  called  the  apostrophe,  which 
you  should  at  once  learn  to  use  correctly,  if  you  have  not 
already  done  so.  It  has  the  form  of  a  comma,  and  was  once 
given  the  name  "  high  comma  "  by  two  little  girls  who  did  not 
know  its  real  name. 

The  apostrophe  shows  something  left  out.  At  the  time 
Mr.  Samuel  Pepys  wrote  his  diary,  certain  forms  in  both  writ- 
ten and  spoken  language  were  changing  very  rapidly.  From 
the  pages  of  his  diary  I  select  the  following  for  your  thought- 
ful consideration  : 

I  followed  Besse  her  messenger. 

Charles  his  name. 

At  Roger  Pepys  his  wedding. 

1  staid  writing  of  the  day  its  passages. 

Now  these  expressions  according  to  our  use  today  are 
written  thus  : 

I  followed  Besse's  messenger. 

Charles'  name. 

At  Roger  Pepys'  wedding. 

I  staid  writing  of  the  day's  passages. 

We  could  also  express  the  same  idea  by  writing: 

I  followed  the  messenger  of  Besse. 
The  name  of  Charles. 
The  wedding  of  Roger  Pepys. 
The  passages  of  the  day. 

Ill 


112  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

Before  the  days  of  Pepys,  while  our  language  was  m  its 
Anglo-Saxon  and  early  English  form,  the  relation  we  now 
express  by  of  had  been  shown  by  a  little  ending  es  placed  after 
a  word  and  forming  part  of  it.  Thus  hors  was  horse,  while 
horses  meant  of  a  horse  or  belonging  to  a  horse.  In  Wednes- 
day we  still  see  this  es,  the  word  being  once  Wodnes-daeg, 
that  is,  day  of  Woden,  or  Woden's  day. 

In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  this  e  was 
gradually  replaced  by  the  apostrophe  (the  form  with  his  and 
her,  used  by  Pepys,  being  a  very  popular,  but  shortlived  fashion). 
Then,  after  this  was  done,  people  could  see  upon  the  printed  page 
the  difference  between  horses,  meaning  more  than  one  horse, 
and  horse\s,  meaning  of  a  horse  or  belonging  to  a  horse,  A 
little  later  they  began  also  to  put  an  apostrophe  after  horses 
when  they  meant  of  horses  or  belonging  to  horses :  as  thus, 
horses'. 

This  has  proved  to  be  an  advantage  in  clearness,  so  this 
way  of  writing  has  been  kept  up. 

While  's  at  the  end  of  a  word  very  often  shows  ownership, 
or  possession,  it  may  also  show  authorship,  origin,  kind, 
measure,  or  some  other  relation.  In  general,  these  relations 
may  be  expressed  by  the  word  of,  as  you  will  see  by  the 
examples  in  your  exercises. 

In  case  a  name  ends  already  in  s,  we  may,  if  we  choose, 
write  after  it  the  apostrophe  alone  when  we  wish  to  show 
possession  or  the  of  relation.  Usage  permits  either  method. 
The  second  s  is  not  usually  to  be  sounded  as  a  separate  syllable. 
Adopt  your  own  method  after  careful  study  of  the  exercises 
and  after  class  discussion. 

One  other  rather  rare  use  of  the  apostrophe  is  shown  in 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


113 


the  following  pluraP  forms  :  Tldo  3^s  and  four  S^s  ;  +'s  atid 
— 's  ;  the  as  in  this  ivord.  This  use  is  for  the  sake  of  clear- 
ness; and  in  this  one  case  no  omission  is  shown  by  the 
apostrophe. 

The  apostrophe  often  helps  also  to  contract,  or  draw 
together,  two  words  into  one.  They  are  written  as  a  single 
word,  and  the  place  of  the  missing  letter  or  letters  is  indicated 
by  the  apostrophe.  Thus,  you  may  at  your  own  pleasure  omit 
many  a  letter,  so  long  as  you  show  by  the  apostrophe  that  you 
know  you  have  left  it  out.  Here  is  a  list  of  the  contractions 
most  frequently  used : 


I'm,  I  am 
I've,  I  have 
you're,  you  are  [etc.] 
he's,  he  is  [etc.] 
it's,  it  is 
what's,  what  is 
there's,  there  is 
I'd,  I  had  or  I  would 
I'll,  I  will 
isn't,  is  not 
aren't,  are  not 
can't,  can  not 
doesn't,  does  not 
don't,  do  not  or  does  not 
'Change,  Exchange 


won't,  will  not 
sha'n't,  shall  not 
e'er,  ever 
e'en,    even 
where'er,  wherever 
ne'er,  never 
o'clock  or  o'  the  clock, 

of  the  clock 
'round,  around 
'neath,  beneath 
tho',  though 
altho',  although 
thro',  through 
on't,    on  it 
liv'd,  lived 


These  contractions  occur  chiefly  in  colloquial,  or  conversa- 
tional language.  In  poetry,  you  may  notice  also  many  other 
contractions  not  in  common  use. 


Plural,  more  than  one;  singular,  one  only. 


114  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

I  have  said  that  either  don^t  or  doesiit  may  be  used  in 
place  of  does  7iot.  This  is  a  point  upon  which  opinions  differ. 
Certain  writers  urge  that  since  he  do  not  is  no  longer  good 
English,  we  should  never  say  he  don^t.  Other  authorities, 
equally  noted,  say  that  the  swiftest  and  most  direct  form  is 
always  best,  and  that  for  mere  convenience  we  should  use  he 
don^t ;  that  he  don^t  is  correct  historically,  and  that  donH  may 
also  be  considered  a  further  contraction  of  doesn't.  Of  course, 
neither  don't,  doesn't,  can't,  won't,  nor  sha'n't  would  appear  in 
really  formal  or  polished  speech,  and  here  we  are  talking  about 
conversational  language  merely.  Discuss  this  question  freely 
in  class  and  decide  by  vote  which  form  you  will  indorse,  by 
your  own  use.  Remember  that  since  no  one  objects  to  he 
doesn't,  by  adopting  that  form  you  will  be  certain  not  to  give 
offence.  But  remember,  also,  that  no  book  makes  rules  for 
language.  All  a  book  can  do  is  to  say  :  Such  and  such  ways 
of  speech  were  used  by  this  man,  or  by  that  group  of  men  :  if 

Cyou  think  them  wise  users  of  language,  follow  their  example. 
Hence,  whenever  usage  is  divided,  as  in  this  case,  you  may 
consult  your  own  judgment  and  good  taste.  It  will  be  well 
for  you  to  watch  for  these  forms  in  your  reading,  and  to  decide 
thus  which  one  you  prefer. 

There  is  a  very  important  lesson  for  you,  hiding  away 
beneath  this  discussion.  It  is  this  :  Begin  iioia  to  find  out  for 
yourselves  what  is  good  usage  in  English.  Go  to  the  largest 
and  best  dictionary  you  can  find  and  look  up  every  doubtful 
point.  Refuse  to  believe  what  you  see  in  this  book  or  in  any 
book  regarding  good  usage,  unless  it  is  reinforced  by  citations 
from  the  best  writers  in  English.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
usage  allows  more  than  one  form,  and  it  is  seldom  tliat  one  may 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  115 

say,  This  and  this  alone  is  correct.  Therefore,  let  your  own 
inquiry  always  be,  not  What  is  the  correct  form  ?  but,  What  is 
the  better  use  ? 

And  remember  here  what  has  been  said  before,  and  will  be 
said  again  and  again,  that  no  other  one  thing  will  so  quickly 
make  you  good  users  of  language  as  this  habit  of  close  obser- 
vation. It  is  by  beginning  early  to  exercise  judgment  and 
taste  that  you  will  at  last  come  to  possess,  and  to  express  easily 
and  naturally,  swift,  sure  judgment  and  unerring  good  taste. 

Observe  the  application  of  this  lesson  in  the  following 
extract  from  Dickens'  "  The  Christmas  Carol :  " 

"  Ha,  ha!  "  laughed  Scrooge's  nephew.     ''  Ha,  ha,  ha!  " 

If  you  should  happen,  by  any  unlikely  chance,  to  know  a  man  more 
blest  in  a  laugh  than  Scrooge's  nephew,  all  I  can  say  is,  I  should  like  to 
know  him,  too.     Introduce  him  to  me,  and  I'll  cultivate  his  acquaintance. 

It  is  a  fair,  even-handed,  noble  adjustment  of  things,  that,  while 
there  is  infection  in  disease  and  sorrow,  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  so 
irresistibly  contagious  as  laughter  and  good-humor.  When  Scrooge's 
nephew  laughed  in  this  way,  holding  his  sides,  rolling  his  head,  and  twist- 
ing his  face  into  the  most  extravagant  contortions,  Scrooge's  niece,  by 
marriage,  laughed  as  heartily  as  he.  And  their  assembled  friends,  being 
not  a  bit  behindhand,  roared  out  lustily. 

"Ha,  ha!     Ha,  ha,  ha!" 

"  He  said  that  Christmas  was  a  humbug,  as  I  live !  "  cried  Scrooge's 
nephew.     '<■  He  believed  it,  too  !  " 

"More  shame  for  him,  Fred!"  said  Scrooge's  niece  indignantly. 
Bless  those  women  !  they  never  do  anything  by  halves.  They  are  always 
in  earnest. 

"  He's  a  comical  old  fellow,"  said  Scrooge's  nephew,  "  that's  the 
truth ;  and  not  so  pleasant  as  he  might  be.  However,  his  offenses  carry 
their  own  punishment,  and  I  have  nothing  to  say  against  him." 

"I  am  sure  he  is  very  rich,  Fred,"  hinted  Scrooge's  niece.  "At 
least  you  always  tell  me  so." 


116  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

''What  of  that,  my  dear?  "  said  Scrooge's  nephew.  "  His  wealth 
is  of  no  use  to  him.  He  don't  do  any  good  with  it.  He  don't  make  him- 
self comfortable  with  it.  He  hasn't  the  satisfaction  of  thinking  —  ha,  ha, 
ha! — that  he  is  ever  going  to  benefit  us  with  it." 

"  I  have  no  patience  with  him,"  observed  Scrooge's  niece.  Scrooge's 
niece's  sisters,  and  all  the  other  ladies,  expressed  the  same  opinion. 

"  Oh,  I  have  !  "  said  Scrooge's  nephew.  "  I  am  sorry  for  him :  I 
couldn't  be  angry  with  him  if  I  tried.  Who  suffers  by  his  ill  whims? 
Himself,  always.  Here,  he  takes  it  into  his  head  to  dislike  us,  and  he 
won't  come  and  dine  with  us.  What's  the  consequence?  He  don't  lose 
much  of  a  dinner." 

"  Indeed,  I  think  he  loses  a  very  good  dinner,"  interrupted  Scrooge's 
niece.  Everybody  else  said  the  same,  and  they  must  be  allowed  to  have 
been  competent  judges,  because  they  had  just  had  dinner;  and,  with  the 
dessert  upon  the  table,  were  clustered  round  the  fire,  by  lamplight. 

"Well,  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  Scrooge's  nephew,  "  because 
I  haven't  any  great  faith  in  these  young  housekeepers.  AVhat  do  you  say. 
Topper? " 

Topper  had  clearly  got  his  eye  upon  one  of  Scrooge's  niece's  sisters, 
for  he  answered  that  a  bachelor  was  a  wretched  outcast,  who  had  no  right 
to  express  an  opinion  on  the  subject.  Whereat  Scrooge's  niece's  sister  — 
the  plump  one  with  the  lace  tucker,  not  the  one  with  the  roses  —  blushed. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Written  and  Oral :  Write  after  each  o£  the  following 
names  an  apostrophe  and  8,  following  it  by  some  word  begin- 
ning with  ^-j  as,  salte^  ^'^^?  sayings,  stories,  soldiers.  Then 
decide  whether  or  not  you  prefer  to  omit  the  s  in  certain  of 
these  cases.*  If  in  one,  why  not  in  all  ?  Pronounce  each 
expression  and  decide  whether  or  not  the  form  with  of  would 
sound  better. 

♦The  words  acquaintance,  conscience,  goodness,  and  Jesus,  when  used  in  the 
possessive  sense  (usually  followed  by  sake),  are  generally  written  with  the  apos- 
trophe following,  but  without  the  s. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


U7 


Jesus 

Greece 

niece 

horse 

Moses 

Dickens 

St.  Nicholas 

topaz 

Socrates 

acquaintance 

moss 

ostrich 

James 

prince 

Illinois 

Mr.  Jones 

Keats 

conscience 

house 

fish 

France 

goodness 

mouse 

lass 

II.  Oral :  Tell  in  your  own  words  all  that  is  indicated  by 
the  apostrophe  in  the  following  eases,  distinguishing  ownership 
from  other  relations : 

This  boy's  shoe ;  those  boys'  shoes ;  my  boys'  shoes ;  John's  pony ; 
Helen's  pencil ;  ladies'  slippers  ;  men's  boots  ;  children's  rubbers  ;  babies' 
socks ;  a  year's  rest ;  a  month's  vacation ;  the  sun's  distance  from  the 
earth ;  my  childhood's  earliest  thoughts ;  her  ladyship's  whim ;  the  wide 
world's  joy ;  six  spears'  length  from  the  entrance  ;  boyhood's  play ;  the 
doctor's  rules ;  to  your  heart's  content ;  the  wild  bee's  chase ;  the  wild 
flower's  time  and  place  ;  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  ;  Webster's  and  Worces- 
ter's dictionaries  ;  John  and  William's  book ;  John's  and  William's  books ; 
Longfellow's  poems  ;  the  winter's  storm  and  sleet ;  Lincoln's  assassination ; 
a  city's  mourning ;  the  king's  evil  deeds ;  the  trees'  leaves ;  Solomon's 
temple  ;  a  pound's  weight ;  William  and  Mary's  reign ;  Elizabeth's  and 
Miiry's  reigns ;  Rice  and  Besant's  novels ;  Dickens'  and  Thackeray's 
novels;  Warner  and  Twain's  "Gilded  Age;"  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
dramas ;  Bancroft's,  Prescott's,  and  Motley's  histories  ;  Charles  the  Sec- 
ond's reign  ;  For  David  my  servant's  sake. 

III.  Orcd,  and  then  Written :  From  the  examples  given 
above  determine  a  rule  to  govern  your  own  use  of  the  apos- 
trophe with  s  to  show  (1)  ownership  ;  (2)  joint  ownership  and 
authorship. 

IV.  Suggested  :  Report  in  writing  a  short  conversation, 
using  as  many  contractions  as  possible.  Imagine  yourselves,  if 
you  choose,  as  buying  groceries,  or  dry  goods,  or  plants,  or 
fruit,  or  as  at  a  shop  where  various  articles  may  be  repaired. 


CHAPTEE  XVII 

OUR   ENGLISH   AND    ITS    SPELLING:     THE    USE   OF   A 
DICTIONARY 

If,  as  I  hope,  you  have  begun  to  write  in  your  diurnal,^  oi 
journal,  or  diary,  every  day,  it  is  probable  that  you  are  thinking 
more  than  before  about  the  spelling  of  words. 

I  mentioned  to  you  a  while  ago  that  hero  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  whose  name  managed  to  get  itself  spelled  in  eighty-five 
ways.  Now,  I  presume,  some  conscientious  girl  is  thinking, 
'*  I  wonder  w4iich  was  the  right  way  !  "  and  I  fancy  I  hear  a 
boy  say,  "  Well,  I  guess  it  can't  make  much  difference  how  we 
spell  it,  after  all ! "  And  in  both  of  these  remarks  there  is 
wisdom.  For,  if  there  is  a  right  way  in  any  matter,  we  should 
seek  and  follow  it.  But  in  the  days  of  brave  Dietrich  von  Bern, 
there  was  no  one  right  way ;  so  it  made  little  difference  how  his 
name  was  spelled. 

You  remember,  I  hope,  as  an  early  lesson  told  you,  that 
spoken  speech  always  precedes  written.  Even  those  world 
epics,  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  said  to  have  been  composed 
by  the  blind  Homer,  lived  long,  from  generation  to  generation, 
wholly  by  word  of  mouth,  sung  and  related  by  wandering 
bards.  Then,  at  last,  they  were  reduced  to  waiting  and  have 
become  today  your  inheritance  and  mine. 

This  leads  me  to  tell  you  a  secret,  not  yet  generally  known. 

*  Diurnal  is  an  old  form  not  now  in  nse.  It  is  the  doublet  of  journal.  All 
three  words  come  from  the  Latin  dies,  day.  In  the  time  of  Pepys,  diurnal  was  as 
common  a  term  as  diary.     The  change  from  d  to  j  is  often  found. 

118 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  119 

I  would  whisper  it  to  you,  if  I  might,  for  fear  someone  may  tell 
you  it  is  not  the  truth.  But  as  you  grow  older,  even  if  not 
now,  you  will  know  for  yourselves  the  truth  of  what  I  say. 
And  this  is  the  secret :  Our  spelling  as  it  exists  today  is 
largely  a  matter  of  accident,  and  often  a  very  bad  accident,  at 
that.  Upon  some  of  your  faces,  no  doubt,  a  relieved  smile 
takes  the  place  of  the  anxious  look  put  there  by  unsuccessful 
struggles  with  your  spelling  book.  You  certainly  have  my 
sympathy,  in  case  you  are  not  eye-minded,  that  is,  quick  to 
retain  forms  taken  in  thru  the  eye  ;  and  it  may  comfort  you 
somewhat  to  be  assured  that  your  grandchildren  will  be  spared 
some  of  your  pains.  You  today,  however,  must  spell  English 
as  it  is  now  written,  no  matter  how  hard  you  have  to  work. 

Nevertheless,  in  a  dozen  words  you  may  now  take  an  easy, 
natural  spelling.  The  directors  of  the  National  Educational 
Association  of  our  country  have  adopted  in  printed  reports 
the  twelve  following  spellings :  tlio  and  altho ;  thoro  and 
thorofare ;  thru  and  thruout ;  program ;  catalog,  prolog, 
decalog,  demagog,  pedagog.  I  should  advise  you  all  to  adopt 
these  forms,  for  they  are  certain  soon  to  be  the  ones  most 
used,  several  of  them  being  already  endorsed  by  the  latest 
dictionaries. 

You  may  be  glad,  too,  that  the  board  appointed  by  our 
Government  has  simplified  the  spelling  of  many  geographical 
names,  leaving  off  the  h  in  hurgh  and  the  ugh  in  borough. 
The  recent  textbooks  in  science  leave  off  the  final  e  in  hundreds 
of  words  where  it  was  formerly  used. 

It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  you  or  I  may  spell  words 
in  any  careless  way.  The  thing  for  you  and  for  me  to  do  is  to 
take  the  simplest  form  of  spelling  that  has  the  sanction  of  our 


120  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

greatest  scholars.  These  all  agree  that  the  spelling  of  English 
should  be  somewhat  changed  as  soon  as  possible.  We  have 
dropped  a  k  from  almanack,  rhetorick,  musick,  and  similar 
words.  We  have  dropped  the  ic  from  such  words  as  harbour, 
honour,  governour.  A  famous  catchword  in  the  spelling 
schools  of  fifty  years  ago  was  ^J/i^/^^s^c'.  This  word  is  now 
spelled  as  it  has  always  been  pronounced,  simply  tisic.  Is  it 
not  possible  that  some  day  we  may  be  as  wise  as  the  Italians, 
who  spell  philosoj)hy  and  photography,  filosojia  and  foto- 
grafia  f  And  is  it  not  probable  that  just  as  the  k  has  dropped 
from  musick,  so  the  useless  e  will  drop  from  hypocrite,  opposite, 
and  similar  words?  Not  that  you  or  I  may  drop  it  now,  but 
that  others  who  come  after  us  will  probably  do  so. 

Our  language  can  not  be  spelled  wholly  according  to 
sound,  because  it  has  many  more  sounds  than  characters  to 
represent  those  sounds.  Moreover,  no  two  communities,  no 
two  individuals  even,  pronounce  exactly  alike.  But,  after  all, 
we  are  today,  more  than  ever  before,  tending  toward  more 
uniform  and  more  simple  speech.  How  could  this  be  other- 
wise when  electricity  and  steam  make  neighbors  of  the  most 
distant  peoples  ? 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  much  talk  over  Volapuk,  a  so- 
called  world  language,  invented  by  a  German  scholar.  Now 
this  very  wise  man  in  effect  asked  one  hundred  twenty-five 
millions  of  English-speaking  people  to  give  up  the  simplest  lan- 
guage on  the  earth,  and  to  take  in  its  place  another  language 
full  of  the  little  endings  that  English  shed  several  hundreds 
of  years  ago.  For  us  now  to  adopt  Volapuk,  or  German,  or 
Russian,  would  be  like  giving  up  a  simple  and  convenient 
machine  in  exchange  for  one  that  is  complex  and  hard-running. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  121 

But  "  what  has  this  to  do  with  you  ?  "  I  answer :  In 
your  own  speech,  whether  oral  or  written,  do  your  part  toward 
making  and  toward  keeping  English  such  a  language  as  may 
well  meet  the  needs  of  all  Earth's  peoples.  I  have  said  before 
that  you  may  be  glad  you  are  born  to  speak  an  easy  language 
like  English.  But  you  have  something  more  to  do  about  it 
than  merely  to  be  glad.  You  have  each  of  you,  in  fact,  a 
definite  duty  to  perform  toward  this  language,  if  you  would 
fulfill  in  some  small  measure  the  debt  you  owe  to  it.  Discard 
from  your  own  vocabulary  the  affected,  the  coarsCj  and  the 
vulgar.  Have  ready  to  your  call  so  many  good  and  noble 
words  that  you  can  instantly  without  effort  choose  the  one 
which  best  voices  your  thought.  Determine  that  the  cause  of 
good  English  shall  not  suffer  thru  your  own  use.  And  remem- 
ber that  an  elegant  and  refined  use  of  English  will  be  your  best 
passport  into  the  society  of  educated  people. 

And  do  not  despise  your  spelling  book  nor  begrudge  any 
time  needed  to  master  it ;  for  spelling  is  one  necessary  part  in 
your  command  of  written  English.  But  remember  that  the 
least  important  use  of  a  dictionary  is  to  give  the  spelling  and 
pronunciation  of  words.  Its  best  gift  is  in  the  meaning  of 
words,  with  citations  of  their  use  by  writers  of  good  English. 
Our  dictionary  makers  are  not  inspired.  They  merely  report  to 
us  what  seemed  to  themselves  the  best  way  to  spell  English 
words,  many  of  which  have  previously  been  spelled  in  several 
different  ways,  together  with  definitions  based  upon  usage. 

Look  upon  your  dictionary  then  merely  as  a  valuable 
report  of  the  use  and  meanings  of  words ;  and  remember  that  it 
must  often  be  revised  in  order  to  give  correct  reports  upon  the 
changing  use  of  old  words  and  upon  the  introduction  of  new 


122  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

words.  A  Latin  lexicon  may  well  last  you  a  lifetime;  not  so 
the  dictionary  of  vigorous  living  English.  But  respect  your 
dictionary  and  hold  it  very  dear ;  for  with  it  you  can,  if  you 
will,  conquer  all  English  literature  and  make  it  your  very  own. 
A  great  college  president  once  said  to  a  graduating  class,  "  I 
have  no  doubt  that  I  use  my  dictionary  far  more  often  than 
does  any  one  of  you." 

The  following  extracts  from  the  pen  of  Professor  Brander 
Matthews  of  Columbia  University  show  you  how  an  able  writer 
of  English  looks  at  these  matters  today  :^ 

Language  is  merely  an  instrument  for  the  use  of  man ;  and  like  all 
other  instruments,  it  had  to  begin  by  being  far  more  complicated  than  is 
needful.  The  watch  used  to  have  more  than  a  hundred  separate  parts,  and 
now  it  is  made  with  less  than  two-score.  .  .  .  Greek  and  German  are 
old-fashioned  watches ;  Italian  and  Danish  and  English  are  watches  of  a 
later  style.  Of  the  more  prominent  modern  languages,  German  and  Russian 
are  the  most  backward,  while  English  is  the  most  advanced.     .     .     . 

That  there  is  no  theory  or  practice  of  English  orthography  univer- 
sally accepted  today  is  obvious  to  all  who  may  take  the  trouble  to  obseive 
for  themselves.  The  spelling  adopted  by  the  Century  Mcigazine  is  differ- 
ent from  that  to  be  found  in  Harper's  Magazine;  and  this  differs  again 
from  that  insisted  upon  in  the  pages  of  the  Bookman.  The  Century  has 
gone  a  little  in  advance  of  American  spelling  generally,  as  seen  in 
Harper's^  and  the  Bookman  is  intentionally  reactionary. 

And  just  as  there  is  no  system  of  English  spelling  tacitly  agreed 
upon  by  all  men  of  education  using  the  English  language  at  present,  so 
there  is  also  no  system  of  English  spelling  consistently  and  continually 
used  by  our  ancestors  in  the  past.  ...  At  no  time  in  the  long 
unrolling  of  English  literature  from  Chaucer  to  Arnold  has  there  been 
agreement  among  those  who  used  the  language  as  to  any  precise  way  in 
which  its  words  should  be  spelled. 

*  From  "Parts  of  Speech:  Essays  on  English."  Reprinted  by  permission 
of  the  publishers,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  123 

The  orthography  of  our  language  has  never  been  fixed  for  a  decade 
at  a  time.  And  this  undei-standing  of  the  real  facts  of  the  situation  is 
likely  to  be  enlarged  in  the  immediate  future  by  the  wide  circulation  of 
many  reprints  of  the  texts  of  the  great  authors  of  the  past  in  the  exact 
spelling  of  the  original  edition.  So  long  as  we  were  in  the  habit  of  seeing 
the  works  of  Shakspere  and  Steele,  of  Scott,  Thackeray,  and  Haw- 
thorne, all  in  an  orthography  which,  if  not  uniform  exactly,  did  not  vary 
widely,  we  were  sorely  tempted  to  say  that  the  spelling  which  was  good 
enough  for  them  is  good  enough  for  us  and  for  our  children. 

But  when  we  have  in  our  hands  the  works  of  those  great  writers  as 
they  were  originally  printed,  and  when  we  are  forced  to  remark  that  they 
spell  in  no  wise  alike  one  to  the  other ;  and  when  we  discover  that  such 
uniformity  of  orthography  as  they  seem  to  have  is  due  merely  to  the 
practice  of  the  modern  printing-offices  and  proof-readers  —  when  these 
things  are  brought  home  to  us,  any  superstitious  reverence  bids  fair  to 
vanish  which  we  may  have  had  for  the  orthography  we  believed  to  be 
Shakspere's  and  Steele's  and  Scott's  and  Thackeray's  and  Hawthorne's. 

To  diffuse  accurate  information  about  the  history  of  English  orthog- 
raphy is  the  most  pressing  and  immediate  duty  now  before  those  of  us 
who  wish  to  see  our  spelling  simplified.  We  must  keep  reminding  those 
we  wish  to  convince  that  we  want  their  aid  in  helping  along  the  move- 
ment which  has  in  the  past  changed  musique  to  music,  riband  to  ribbon, 
phantasy  to  fantasy,  cera  to  era,  phcenomenon  to  phenomenon,  and  which 
in  the  present  is  changing  catalogue  to  catalog,  cesthetic  to  esthetic,  pro- 
gramme  to  program,  technique  to  technic. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral:  Read  the  following  sentences  aloud  in  class, 
pronouncing  the  words  in  ough  like  the  other  italicized  word  or 
words  in  the  same  sentence  or  group  of  sentences.  Count  the 
number  of  different  sounds  given  in  all  to  ough, 

1 .     My  doughty  covj  was  stuck  fast  in  a  slough  near  the  plow. 


124  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

2.  One  or  two  cups  of  water  may  cure  your  hiccoughs, 

3.  Say  "as  if,"  rather  than  "as  though.''  Though  is  a  shortened 
form  of  although  and  should  be  so  used.  Knead  your  dough  lightly,  but 
thoroughly.* 

4.  The  cat  sprang  q^the  trough  with  a  loud  cough. 

5.  As  he  went  through  he  cried,  "  Shough.,  shough,  do!  " 

6.  The  horse  waded  from  the  dock  into  the  lough  till  his  houghs 
were  well  under  water. 

7.  Every  ptiff  of  wind  bore  to  our  nostrils  the  odor  from  the  sough. 
The  slough  from  the  sore  wing  of  the  chough  was  also  most  offensive. 
The  slough  of  the  snake  was  not  tough  and  it  broke  easily  in  my  hands. 
The  sough  of  the  wind  showed  that  the  night  was  growing  rough. 

II.  1.  Oral :  Learn  by  vote  the  class  opinion  as  to 
the  desirabiUty  of  reforming  the  spelling  of  words  in  ough. 

2.  Mental :  Look  up  in  a  recent  dictionary  all  the 
above  words  in  ough,  and  determine  which  ones  may  now  be 
spelled  in  simpler  form. 

III.  Mental :  Find  out  if  you  can  from  a  study  of  the 
article  on  Orthography  in  the  first  part  of  your  Century,  or 
Standard,  or  Webster's  Dictionary : 

1.  Whether  t  or  ed  is  the  older  form  of  ending  in  such  words  as 
published,  fixed,  etc. 

2.  Some  of  the  reforms  in  spelling  for  which  we  may  thank  Dr. 
Noah  Webster. 

*  The  reformed  spellings,  tho  and  thru,  recommended  by  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association  and  adopted  thriiout  the  text  of  this  book,  are  not  yet  in 
universal  use ;  therefore  the  older  form  is  included  among  these  illustrations. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII 

CERTAIN   TROUBLESOME   WORDS 

fell  lay  '  raise  set 

fall  lie  rise  sit 

Your  lesson  today  may  seem  rather  short  and  simple  ;  but 
if  you  think  it  unimportant,  you  will  be  likely  to  forget  its 
teachings  just  when  you  most  need  them.  Even  well-educated 
people  sometimes  err  in  the  use  of  the  words  that  we  are  now 
to  consider. 

Four  of  these  words  are  called  causatwes,  because  they 
make  or  cause  certain  results.     Here  is  the  list : 


Causatives 

meaning 

fell 

to  cause  to  fall 

lay 

"            •'  lie 

raise 

"            '*  rise 

set 

"            "  sit 

The  meaning  given  here  is  not  the  only  one,  but  is  the 
one  most  commonly  used.  You  will  do  well  to  study  the  forms 
of  all  these  words  as  given  in  sentences,  determining  not  to 
confuse  those  belonging  to  each  pair  of  words. 

Thus  we  may  say  : 

I.     The  man  fells  a  tree  and  the  tree  falls. 
He  felled  a  tree  and  the  tree  fell. 
He  has  felled  a  tree  and  the  tree  has  fallen, 

125 


126  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

That  is  to  say,  The  man  fells,  felled,  or  has  felled  the 
tree.  But  the  tree  falls,  fell,  or  has  fallen.  In  other  words, 
the  felling  of  the  tree  by  the  man  caused  the  falling  of  the  tree. 

When  we  fell  a  seam,  we  cause  the  edges  of  the  cloth  to 
fall  fat,  and  they  are  sewed  down  in  that  position. 

II.     Mary  lays  the  book  here ;  the  book  lies  where  she  put  it. 
She  laid  the  book  here ;  the  book  lay  here,  until  now. 
She  has  laid  the  book  away,  and  it  has  lain  neglected. 

In  other  words,  Mary's  laying  the  book  down  caused  the 
lying  of  the  book  in  that  place. 

The  army  lies  in  camp.  Cuba  lies  in  the  ocean.  Oviparous  animals 
lay  eggs.     We  lay  a  cable,  bricks,  plans,  roads. 

III.  He  raises  his  kite  and  the  kite  rises. 
He  raised  fiis  kite  and  the  kite  rose. 

He  has  raised  his  kite  and  the  kite  has  risen. 

In  other  words,  the  raisifig  of  the  kite  by  the  boy  caused 
the  rising  of  the  kite. 

IV.  Mary  sets  her  doll  in  the  chair,  and  it  sits  there  now. 
She  set  her  doll  in  the  chair,  and  it  sat  there  all  night. 

She  has  set  her  doll  in  the  chair,  and  it  has  sat  there  uncomplain- 
ingly all  day. 

In  other  words,  Mary's  setting  her  doll  in  the  chair  caused 
the  sitting  of  the  doll  in  that  place. 

Set  has  a  very  wide  use  in  everyday  language.  We  set  a  hen  on 
eggs,  or  we  set  eggs  under  a  hen,  and  she  sits  patiently  brooding  for  three 
weeks.  We  set  a  box  on  end ;  set  a  boy  at  work  ;  set  a  table  for  dinner  ; 
set  a  price,  set  things  in  order,  set  a  saw,  set  a  trap,  set  out  a  plant,  set 
pearls  in  a  ring,  set  a  bone ;  set  our  hearts  on  what  we  long  for ;  and  set 
good  or  bad  examples. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  127 

Birds  sit  on  eggs  or  sit  on  a  branch  or  sit  (roost)  on  their  perches. 
Our  clothes  sit  well  or  ill,  altho  we  speak  of  the  set  of  one's  dress.  Re- 
member that  clothes  never  '*  set  "  but  "  sit  "  or  Jit.  We  sit  down  to  rest 
and  we  sit  up  to  watch.  "Will  you  sit?  "  is  a  somewhat  better  expression 
than  "Will  you  sit  down?  "  but  either  may  be  used. 

Notice  the  correct  use  of  these  words  in  the  following  sen- 
tences, and  watch  for  them  in  your  everyday  reading  : 

We  have  testified  of  God  that  he  raised  up  Christ,  whom  he  raised 
not  up,  if  so  be  that  the  dead  rise  not. 

I  C07'.  XV.    15. 

Well  may  you  see  things  well  done  there  :  adieu  ! 
Lest  our  old  robes  sit  easier  than  our  new. 

Shak»pere,  '^Macbeth" 

Mrs.  Sterling  was  a  woman  whose  skirt  sat  well ;  who  adjusted  her 

waist  and  patted  her  curls  with  a  preoccupied  air  when  she  inquired  after 

3'our  welfare. 

George  Eliot. 

'   We  lay  at  St.  Dizier  the  first  night,  and  at  Langres  the  second. 

Thomas  Gray. 

A  law  of  Charles  the  Fifth     .     .     .     has  lain  dormant  ever  since 

his  time. 

Joseph  Addison. 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral :  Use  ox,  animal,  enemy,  antagonist,  in  place 
of  tree  in  the  sentences  of  I. 

II.  Oral:  \]s>q  fall,  falls,  fell, have  {has  ov  had)  fallen,  oi 
meteors,  leaves,  tides,  rivers,  prices,  a  curtain,  a  child  and  any 
other  suitable  objects. 

III.  Oral :  Use  the  names  of  each  of  your  own  books  and 
toys  in  place  of  the  w^ord  hooh  in  II. 


128  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

IV.  Oral:  Use  flag,  mast,  monument,  uweck,  laugh,  riot, 
plant,  crop,  sigiial,  p^rices,  foods,  money,  bread,  in  place  of 
kite  in  III. 

V.  Oral:  Use  rise,  rises,  rose,  have  {has  or  had)  risen,  of 
birds,  fogs,  tides,  water,  bubbles,  a  path,  a  sound,  laughter, 
a  curtain,  rebels,  insurgents,  and  of  any  other  suitable  things. 

VI.  Oral:  Repeat  each  sentence  in  I,  II,  III,  and  IV  in 
interrogative  or  question  form.  As,  thus.  Does  the  man  fell  a 
tree,  and  does  the  tree  fall?  After  each  question,  read  in 
answer  the  corresponding  statement  as  given  in  I,  II,  III,  and 
IV. 

VII.      Oral:  Let  some  boy  tell  exactly  what  is  meant  by  set- 
ting a  saw,  explaining  why  it  must  be  set  in  just  that  way. 
VIII.     Mental:  Look  thru  your  readers,  observing  carefully 
every  use  of  any  form  of  each  one  of  these  words. 

IX.  Oral:  Bring  to  class  and  report  there  every  instance 
you  can  find  in  good  literature  of  a  correct  use  of  any  of  the 
words  discussed  in  this  lesson. 


New  are  the  leaves  on  the  oaken  spray, 

New  the  blades  of  the  silky  grass ; 
Flowers,  that  were  buds  but  yesterday, 

Peep  from  the  ground  where'er  I  pass. 

These  gay  idlers,  the  butterflies, 

Broke,  to-day,  from  their  winter  shroud. 

These  light  airs,  that  winnow  the  skies, 

Blow,  just  born,  from  the  soft,  white  cloud. 

From  "  The  New  and  the  Old,"  by  William  Cullen  Bryant* 

♦Reprinted  l)y  permission  of  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  publishers  of  Bryant's 
complete  works. 


CHAPTEK  XIX 

UPON    CERTAIN    NICETIES    OF    SPEECH 

May  Can  Shall  Will 

Might  Coiild  Should  Would 

This  is  a  large  subject  that  our  lesson  names  for  us  today ; 
so  large,  indeed,  that  you  will  need  to  study  it  thruout  life. 
We  have  touched  upon  it  before,  and  we  shall  need  to  come 
back  to  it  again  and  again. 

By  niceties  of  speech  we  mean  the  forms  of  expression 
used  by  scholarly  persons,  as  opposed  to  incorrect  forms  used 
by  the  uneducated  and  careless.  Put  into  your  memories  for 
constant  reference  the  following  statements : 

May  asks  and  gives  permission. 
Can  implies  ability  to  do. 

Whether  or  not  you  can  do  a  thing  is  something  you  your- 
self know  better  than  any  other  person.  Whether  or  not  you  may 
do  it  usually  depends  upon  your  receiving  permission  to  do  so. 

Can  I  go,  means  Am  I  able  to  go? 
You  can  go^  means  You  are  able  to  go. 
May  I  goy  means  Have  I  permission  to  go? 
You  may  go^  means  You  have  permission  to  go. 

I  can  sew;  can  you?  implies  ability. 

I  may  setv;  may  you?  implies  that  permission  has  been  given. 

To  ask,  Can  I  sew?  is  absurd,  since  you  know  yourself 
whether  or  not  you  can. 


130  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Observe,  again,  the  same  difference  in  the  meaning  of  these 
two  words  in  the  following  sentences  : 

I  hope  I  can  go,  but  I  am  not  yet  well.  , 

I  hope  I  may  go,  but  my  father  may  not  consent. 

You  may  go,  Charles,  and  see  whether  you  can  unlock  that  door. 

May  I  ask  you  to  open  this  door  for  me?     I  will,  if  I  can. 

Can  formerly  meant  "  I  know  :  "  you  still  "  con  "  your  les- 
sons. May  meant  "  I  have  power/'  "  I  am  able ;"  this  meaning 
was  gradually  absorbed  by  can.  You  see  how  much  weaker 
in  meaning  both  words  have  become. 

Might  and  could  are  called  past  forms  of  inay  and  can. 
They  are  used  in  very  much  the  same  way  as  may  and  can^  as 
you  will  see  by  the  following  sentences^: 

Mr.  Brown  told  John  he  might  stay  over  night. 

I  wish  you  could  get  your  lessons  without  help  from  another. 

She  tried  to  walk  all  the  way,  but  could  not. 

May  and  might  have  other  uses  besides  that  of  giving  per- 
mission. They  also  express  (1)  uncertainty  or  doubt;  (2) possi- 
bility ;  (3)  desire.     This  you  will  see  in  the  following  : 

I  may  go  and  I  may  not. 

I  said  that  I  might  go  and  I  might  not. 

He  may  recover  if  he  is  careful. 

The  doctor  said  he  might  recover. 

May  blessings  go  with  you  ! 

He  prayed  that  blessings  might  attend  you. 

The  difference  in  the  use  of  shall  and  of  will  is  now 
insisted  upon  by  all  teachers  of  English.  This  use  involves  a 
very  nice  sense  of  politeness.  Shall  once  meant  to  owe,  even 
to  owe  money  ;  and  the  unjust  steward  in  the  Bible  story  asks, 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  131 

"  How  much  shalt  [scealt]  thou? "  Shall  thus  implies  what 
comes  without  one's  own  intention  or  wish ;  while  will  denotes 
desire  and  choice.  Will  is  still  often  used  in  this  original 
strong  sense,  as  in  the  line. 

We  are  happy  now  because  God  wills  it. 

James  Bussell  Lowell. 

Since  it  is  polite  to  speak  of  one's  self  humbly,  not  arro- 
gantly, and  to  assume  that  others  act  of  their  own  free  will, 
our  modern  usage,  to  express  expectation,  has  come  to  be 
"  shalling "  for  ourselves  and  "  willing "  for  other  people. 
Observance  of  this  difference  will  mark  at  once  the  degree  of 
care  each  of  you  gives  to  your  own  speech.  The  matter  is 
really  very  easy  to  master.     Here  it  is  in  a  nutshell : 

I.     I  shall  go  We  shall  go 

You  will  go  You  will  go    }   all  foretell  future  action. 

He  will  go  They  will  go 

They  might  also  be  expressed  thus  : 

I      I  We 

You  >  expect  to  go  ;  You   }  expect  to  go. 

He    )  They 

Now  note  another  group  of  forms : 

II.     I  will  go            We  will  go        \  [  W  pi'o^^ise ;  or 

You  shall  go     You  shall  go     (  imply    )  (2)  command ;  or 

He  shall  go       They  shall  go  (  either   j  (3)  determination  ;  or 

)  (  (^)  the  inevitable. 

These  may  be  explained  variously,  according  to  circumstances : 

I  will  go  [that  is,  I  promise  to  be  there]. 

You  shall  go  [I  command  it,  and  you  dare  not  disobey]. 

He  shall  go  [I  am  determined  to  have  him  there] . 


132  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

We  will  go  [nobody  shall  prevent  it] . 

You  shall  go  [I  promise  you  that  pleasure] . 

They  shall  go  [willing  or  unwilling] . 

If  you  will  emphasize  slightly  with  your  voice  the  shall 
and  the  will  in  Group  II,  determination  and  command  will  tell 
their  own  story  without  any  aid.  Do  you  not  see  how  con- 
venient it  is  to  be  able  thus  to  express  in  writing  also  a  nice 
shade  of  meaning?  Nice,  I  mean  here,  in  its  correct  sense  of 
exact  ox  particular.  But  unless  you  learn  to  feel  this  difference 
in  the  meanings  of  shall  and  of  will,  you  will  not  be  able  to 
express  them  in  your  own  speech. 

The  fine  use  of  will  or  of  shall  to  express  the  inevitable 
oi:  unavoidable  is  the  one  most  often  neglected.  Observe  how 
beautifully  it  expresses  the  poet's  meaning  in  the  following 
passage : 

Yet  a  few  days,  and  thee 
The  all-beholding  sun  shall  see  no  more, 
In  all  his  course  ;  nor  yet  in  the  cold  ground. 
Where  thy  pale  form  was  laid,  with  many  tears. 
Nor  in  the  embrace  of  ocean,  shall  exist 
Thy  image.     Earth,  that  nourished  thee,  shall  claim 
Thy  growth,  to  be  resolved  to  earth  again ; 
And,  lost  each  human  trace,  surrendeiing  up 
Thine  individual  being,  shalt  thou  go 
To  mix  forever  with  the  elements. 
To  be  a  brother  to  the  insensible  rock, 
And  to  the  sluggish  clod,  which  the  rude  swain 
Turns  with  his  share,  and  treads  upon.     The  oak 
Shall  send  his  roots  abroad,  and  pierce  thy  mould. 
Yet  not  to  thy  eternal  resting-place 
Shalt  thou  retire  alone  —  nor  couldst  thou  wish 
Couch  more  magnificent.     Thou  shalt  lie  down 


EVERYDAY    ENGLISH  133 

With  patriarchs  of  the  infant  world, —  with  kings, 
The  powerful  of  the  earth, — the  wise,  the  good, 
Fair  forms,  and  hoary  seers  of  ages  past. 
All  in  one  mighty  sepulchre. 

From  "  Thanatopsis,"by  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 

You  will  not  have  hard  work  to  master  this  subject  as  soon 
as  you  have  drilled  yourselves  a  little  upon  the  forms  which  at 
first  sound  strange  to  you.  The  only  place  where  you  will 
probably  be  puzzled  is  in  a  sentence  like  this :  "  He  says  that 
he  will  [or  shall]  not  go."  Here  you  should  use  the  form 
which  the  speaker  would  have  used  in  his  own  words.  "  He 
says  '  I  shall  not  go/  "  and  "  He  says  '  I  will  not  go ' "  give  dif- 
ferent shades  of  thought ;  the  first  implying  that  he  does  not 
expect  to  go ;  the  second  implying  that  he  does  not  wish  or 
intend  to  go.  You  will  say  of  the  first  answer,  "  He  says  he 
shall  not  go  ;  "  and  of  the  second,  "  He  says  he  will  not  go ; " 
hence,  each  answer  tells  its  own  story  accurately. 

In  a  somewhat  similar  manner,  in  questions  also,  shall 
and  will  anticipate  the  answer  expected.     Thus  : 

"  Shall  I  [you,  he,  they]  go?  "  implies  the  answer,  "  You  [I,  he, 
they]  shall  go." 

''Will  you  [he,  they,  we]  go?"  implies  the  answer,  "  1  [he,  they, 
we]  will  go." 

To  use  shall  and  will  correctly  from  habit,  without  effort 
or  consideration,  is  the  thing  for  you  to  aim  at.  This  will  not 
be  hard,  since  the  matter  is  put  before  you  now  clearly  and 
simply,  while  you  are  young.  It  is  only  when  wrong  habits  of 
speech  have  been  followed  into  mature  life  that  it  becomes 

*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  publishers  of  Bryant's 
complete  works. 


134  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

almost  impossible  to  overcome  them.  In  fact,  if  you  begin  in 
youth  merely  to  observe  carefully  the  use  in  good  literature  of 
a  certain  form,  you  will  almost  unconsciously  acquire  an  instinc- 
tive avoidance  of  the  wrong  form. 

There  is  a  very  old  story  that  will  never  be  too  old  to  help 
children  remember  about  shall  and  will.  This  story  relates  of 
a  French  passenger  on  an  English  ship  that  he  unluckily  fell 
into  the  water,  and  cried  out  in  terror,  ^'  Nobody  shall  help  me, 
I  will  drown  ! "  Whereupon,  he  was  supposed  to  be  seeking 
death  of  his  own  choice,  and  was  politely  allowed  to  drown. 

Should  and  would  are  the  past  forms  of  shall  and  will,  and 
follow  in  the  main  the  same  use.  They  are  especially  used  in 
expressing  condition.     Thus : 

I  should  go  if  I  could  afford  it. 
He  would  go  if  he  could  afford  it. 

The  most  careful  speakers  observe  this  distinction,  but  inaccu- 
rate speakers  confuse  the  two  words. 

Would  often  expresses  also  the  customary  or  habitual ;  as, 

She  would  dream  and  dream  by  the  hour. 

Should  may  also  express  duty  or  obligation  :  afs,  "  You  should 
not  be  idle." 

A  word  to  you  here  upon  another  case  of  politeness  in 
speech.  Just  as  courtesy  requires  that  you  allow  others  to  pass 
before  you,  especially  those  older  than  yourself,  so  also  polite- 
ness in  speech  requires  that  you  name  yourself  after  others, 
saying,  "  he  and  I,"  "  they  and  we."     As  thus  : 

Miss  Smith  and  we  hoys  went  to  the  woods. 
Come  to  see  Mary  and  me. 
He  came  to  see  you  and  me. 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  135 

Carefulness  in  thus  giving  preference  to  others  in  actions  and 
in  words  implies  an  unselfishness  that  arises  from  a  gentle  and 
noble  spirit.     Remember  that 

*'  Politeness  is  to  do  and  say 

The  kindest  tiding  in  the  kindest  way." 

EXERCISES 

I.  Oral :  Discuss  each  of  the  following  sentences  until 
sure  of  the  exact  meaning. 

■  If  I  should  call,  he  would  answer. 

What  should  I  do?     What  would  you  do? 

I  would  not  believe  him  if  I  were  you,  for  he  is  known  to  be  untrust- 
worthy. 

I  should  not  believe  him  if  I  were  you,  for  his  tales  are  wholly  unbe- 
lievable. 

Mary  would  go,  altho  her  father  said  she  should  not.  When  she 
reached  home,  she  feared  she  should  be  punished. 

He  would  not  believe  that  his  friend  would  betray  him. 

He  could  not  believe  that  his  friend  would  betray  him. 

I  could  not  answer,  if  I  would. 


I  would  that  my  tongue  could  utter 
The  thoughts  that  arise  in  me. 


I  would  if  I  could ; 

If  I  couldn't,  how  could  I? 


Alfred  Tennyson. 


Mother  Goose. 


If  we  fail,  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.     But  we  shall  not  fail.     The 
cause  will  raise  up  armies ;  the  cause  will  create  navies. 

Daniel  Webster. 

II.      Written :  Gather  from  your  readers  or  other  collec- 
tions of   literature   interesting   sentences   illustrating   the  cor- 


136  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

rect  use  of  may,  7night,  can,  could,  shall,  should,  will,  and 
would. 

After  discussing  these  in  class,  copy  the  best  instances 
you  have  upon  the  pages  provided  in  your  wordbooks,  giving 
also  the  name  of  the  writer  of  each  phrase  or  sentence,  as  in 
the  last  three  instances  under  Exercise  I.  \ 


Lullaby  * 


Rockaby,  lullaby,  bees  in  the  clover ! 
Crooning  so  drowsily,  crying  so  low, 
Rockaby,  lullaby,  dear  little  rover  ! 

Down  into  wonderland, 

Down  to  the  under-land, 
Go,  now  go ! 
Down  into  wonderland  go. 

Rockaby,  lullaby,  rain  on  the  clover, 
(Tears  on  the  eyelids  that  waver  and  weep !) 
Rockaby,  lullaby  —  bending  it  over  ! 

Down  on  the  mother- world, 

Down  on  the  other  world, 
Sleep,  oh  sleep  ! 
Down  on  the  mother-world  sleep. 

Rockaby,  lullaby,  dew  on  the  clover, 
Dew  on  the  eyes  that  will  sparkle  at  dawn ! 
Rockab}",  lullaby,  dear  little  rover  ! 
Into  the  stilly  world, 
Into  the  lily  world,  , 

Gone  !  now  gone  ! 
Into  the  lily  world  gone. 

Josiah  Gilbert  Holland. 
Reprinted  by  permissiou  of  the  publishers,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


CHAPTER  XX 

EVERYDAY  ERRORS  AND  THEIR  CAUSE 

There  are  many  expressions  used  daily  without  much 
thought,  where  a  careful  habit  would  have  directed  the  use  of 
better  ones.  The  wrong  habit  in  using  language  grows  in 
about  the  same  way  that  a  snowball  increases  in  size  as  it  is 
rolled  along,  adding  only  a  little  to  its  bulk  at  the  first  few 
turns,  but  an  enormous  amount  at  the  last  ones. 

In  this  lesson,  I  wish  to  point  out  to  you  some  of  the  most 
glaring  errors  in  careless  everyday  speech.  No  one  of  you, 
probably,  makes  all,  or  even  many,  of  these  mistakes  ;  but  if 
you  are  at  all  doubtful  in  any  case  as  to  which  form  is  correct, 
you  may  be  pretty  sure  that  your  usage  has  been  wrong  in  that 
one  case.  Or,  if  the  form  given  here  as  correct  causes  you 
the  least  surprise,  you  may  be  sure  that  you  are  not  out  of 
danger  of  using  the  wrong  form.  A  habit  of  correct  speech  is 
the  only  safeguard  from  error.  To  make  this  perfectly  clear 
to  you,  let  me  explain  that  the  habits  of  speech  formed  in 
youth  will  follow  you  thruout  life.  A  poor  boy  worked  his 
way  thru  college  and  became  superintendent  of  city  schools. 
He  hardly  ever  made  a  short  address  before  his  high  school 
without  little  slips  in  accuracy  or  in  good  taste.  He  realized 
that  he  did  this,  but  said  that  in  the  haste  and  excitement  of 
public  speech,  he  could  not  overcome  the  habits  of  childhood. 
He  knew  perfectly  well  what  was  correct :  his  careless  habit  of 
speech  had  become  too  fixed  to  be  wholly  overcome. 

137 


138  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Of  course  you  can  not  correct  errors  in  your  speech,  unless 
these  are  brought  to  your  attention.  Hence,  in  order  to  sug- 
gest to  you  certain  blunders  that  you  may  not  have  noticed,  I 
shall  give  you  here  a  good  many  exercises  for  study, —  closer 
study  perhaps  than  you  may  at  first  judge  necessary.  I  shall 
not  put  incorrect  sentences  before  your  eyes  and  I  hope  that 
none  may  rise  in  your  minds  as  you  read  correct  ones. 

While  it  is  true  that  errors  creep  into  the  speech  of  even 
cultivated  persons,  it  is  well  for  us  always  to  be  cautious  in  say- 
ing of  any  remark  that  it  is  incorrect.  We  must  be  sure,  first 
of  all,  that  we  know  just  what  the  speaker  meant.  Every 
great  writer  or  speaker  uses  language  in  new  ways  to  suit  his 
own  need.  Thus  it  follows  that  usually  we  may  select  one  of 
several  correct  forms,  rather  than  merely  reject  one  form  that  is 
incorrect.  All  words  are  good  and  useful  if  only  they  are  put 
into  the  right  place.  Please  to  study  carefully  this  list  of 
popular  blunders,  until  you  have  the  better  expressions  pictured 
in  your  mind  so  clearly  that  they  can  not  easily  be  driven  out. 

Do  not  use : 

above  '  for  more  thari;  say  "  He  has  more  than  twenty  horses." 

affect  for  effect;  say  "  He  effected  this  by  means  of  a  strategem  ;  " 

"A  happy  manner  affects  us  all  pleasantly." 
aggravate  for   exasperate,  irritate,  annoy,  or  provoke.     Aggravate 

means  to  increase  or  make  worse.     Say  "  I  must 
not  let  it  exasperate  me;"   "Be  not  easily  pro- 
voked ;  "    "  His  illness  was  aggravated  by  the  bad 
news." 
among  for  between  (by  and  twain)-,  say  "Between  the  two;" 

"  among  them  all." 
any  for  at  all;  say  "  She  can  not  sing  at  all." 

as  for  that;  say  "  Not  that  I  have  heard." 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


139 


as  lives  for  as  lief;  say  "  I  would  as  lief  go  as  stay." 

as  tlio  for  as  if;  say  *'  She  looks  as  if  she  would  consent." 

attacted  for  attoxked;  say  "The  army  was  attacked  at  daybreak." 

aught ^  or  ought ^  for  naught;  say  ''  The  symbol  called  naught  is  usually  in- 
cluded among  the  ten  digits ;"  "  It  is  true,  for  aught 
[anything]  that  I  know ;  "  "You  ought  to  go." 

Note  :    Naught  comes  from  ne  and  aught,  and  hence  means  not  anything. 


iHick 
bad 

bad 
bad  off 
beautifully 

between  each 

between  every 

claim 

come 

cute  or  cunning 


deny  but  that 

different  than 

done 

doubt  but  that 

drownded 

except 

except 

expect 


female 
flown 


for  0^0 ;  say  "  Several  days  ago."  /• 

for  carelessly ;  say  "  This  is  done  carelessly." 

for  sick  or  ill;  say  "  He  looks  very  sick." 

for  badly  off;  say  "  I  fear  he  is  badly  off." 

for   beautiful;    say    "She   looks    beautiful    and   dresses 

beautifully." 
for  after  each;  say  "  After  each  lesson." 
for  before  every ;  say  "  Before  every  lesson."" 
for  assert,  declare;  say  "I  assert  that  he  knows  the  facts." 
for  came;  say  "  He  came  last  week." 
for  little,  tiny,  pretty,  winsome,  amusing,  attractive,  lovely, 
charming;   say  "She   is  a  pretty  child;"  *'His 
pain  and  his  pleasure  were  both  acute  ;  "  "  He  is 
a  cunning  dog  and  has  sly  tricks." 
for  deny  that;  say  "  I  don't  deny  that  he  did." 
for  different  from ;  say  "  Mine  is  different  from  yours.** 
for  did;  say  "  I  did  it.'* 

for  doubt  that;  say  "  I  don't  doubt  that  he  did.'* 
for  drowned;  say  "  The  horse  was  drowned." 
for  accept;  say  "  She  accepted  the  flowers  gladly." 
for  unless;  say  "  I  can't  go  unless  Nell  goes  too." 
for  suspect  or  suppose;  say  "  I  suspect  she  has  heard  the 

news  ;  "   "I  suppose  you  go  home  often.'* 
for  woman;  say  "  I  saw  an  elderly  woman." 
for  flowed  or  fled;  say  "  The  river  has  flowed  for  many 
years  in  this  course;  "  "The  thief   has  fled  the 
country;  "   "  The  bird  has  flown  away." 


140 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


funny  for  strange^  odd,  unusual,  quaint,  unexpected ;  say  "  How 

strange  that  was  !  " 
good  for  loell  or  carefully ;  say  "  You  have  done  this  well." 

had  ought  for  ought;  say  ''  He  ought  to  have  gone  last  night." 

have  got  for  have;  say  "  You  have  a  dime  and  I  have  a  nickel." 

hurry  up  for   hurry;   say    "Hurry,    Tom,    hurry!"    "The   troops 

hurried  up  the  hill." 
in  for  into ;  say  "  I  jumped  into  the  pond  and  swam  about 

in  the  water." 
It  is  me  for  It  is  I;  say  "  It  is  I  [he,  she,  we,  they]." 

lady  for  woman,  or  madam;  say  "What  can  I  do  for  you, 

madam?"     "  Ask  this  saleswoman." 
learn  for  teach;  say  "  He  teaches  me  music." 

Note:    Learn  for  teacJi  was  formerly  good  English,  and   to  be  found  in 
Shakspere.     See  the  poem  given  later  in  this  chapter. 


leave  for  let;  say  "  Let  me  go  !  "     "  Leave  me  here." 

less  for  fewer;    say  "  There  are   fewer   people    here    than   I 

expected." 
like  for  as;  say  "  Do  it  as  I  do." 

like  for  as  if;  say  "  He  sang  as  if  he  loved  to  sing."    ' 

lightning  for  lighten;  say  "  It  thundered  and  lightened." 

love  for  like;  say  "  I  like  arithmetic  ;  "   "I  love  my  mother." 

mad  for  angry,  cross;  say  "  Nell  was  angry  and  the  rest  were 

cross  at  the  failure  of  the  mad  scheme." 
most  for  almost;  say  "  We  are  almost  home  ;  most  of  the  hard 

places  are  past." 
much  for  many;  'say  "  As  many  as  a  hundred  sheep." 

mutual  for  common;  say  "  We  have  a  common  friend;  "  "  The 

affection  between  Nell  and  Alice  is  mutual." 
nice  for  pleasing,  satisfactory,  charming,  good,  kind;  say  "  This 

is  a  pleasing  story;  "  "  She  has  a  charming  man- 
ner ;  "  "  This  work  requires  the  nicest  care  ;  "  "A 
nice  choice  in  words  helps  to  express  slight  shades 
of  meaning." 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


141 


nicely 
nothing 


for  well;  say  ''  I  am  very  well." 

for  anything ;  say  "  I  didn't  do  anything  wrong." 


Note:  /  didn't  do  nothing  is  au  instance  of  tv30  negatives  which  together 
equal  an  affirmative.  If  you  did  not  do  nothing,  then  you  did  do  something.  See 
three  cases  of  this  in  "  King  John  and  the  Abbot,"  in  this  chapter.  Three  nega- 
tives were  not  unusual  in  early  English. 

nowheres  for  anywhere;  say  "  I  'can't  find  it  anywhere.'* 

of  for  have;  say  "  She  should  have  gone." 

on  for  upon;  say  "  He  had  climbed  up  the  bank,  stepped 

upon  a  thorn,  and  sat  there  on  the  ground  crying." 
onto  for  upon;  say  "  I  climbed  upon  the  bank." 

Note  :  We  do  not  need  the  word  onto  unless  we  throw  away  its  equivalent, 
upon.  After  you  get  into  a  thing,  you  are  in  it;  after  you  get  upon  it,  you  are  on 
it.  Onto  is  as  good  a  word  as  unto  or  into,  so  far  as  form  goes ;  but  Ave  have  no 
real  need  for  it. 

oral  for  verbal;  say  "  We  notice  a  verbal  error  more  quickly 

in  written  than  in  oral  speech."     "  What  is  the 
difference  in  meaning  between  oral  and  vocal?" 
party  tor  person;  say  "  I  know  the  person  you  name." 

X)lenty  for   enough;    say  "He  is   good   enough;"    "It   is  ripe 

enough." 
preventative  ior x>Teventive ;  say  "He  found  this  a  preventive  of  wrong." 

propose  for  purpose;  say  "  I  purpose  to  do  my  best;   and  I  pro- 

pose that  we  both  turn  over  a  new  leaf." 
raise  for  Hse;  say  "  I  hope  for  a  rise  in  my  standing  soon." 

real  for  very  or  really;    say  "This  is  very  kind;"    "I  am 

really  glad." 
recommend  for  recommendatio7i ;  say  "  He  gave  me  a  good  recom- 

mendation." 
run  for  ran;  say  "  The  old  gray  fox  ran  home  to  his  den." 

Note:  Mother  Goose,  whose  English  is  the  colloquial  speech  of  several 
generations  ago,  uses  the  forms  run,  come,  sung^  bid,  eat  (pronounced  et),  and 
drunk,  where  today  good  usage  requires  ran,  cime,  sang,  bade,  ate,  and  drank. 
She  has  other  forms  of  speech  even  more  objectionable,  which  are  now  counted 
as  vulgarisms. 


142 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


sat  for  seated;  say  ''  They  seated  me  next  an  old  friend." 

seen  for  saw;  say  "  I  saw  the  circus  go  by." 

some  for  rather  or  somewhat;   say  ''I  am  rather   hungry  and 

somewhat  tired.  " 
stop  for  stay ;  say  "  I  am  staying  at  home  ;  "   "  I  can  not  stop 

now." 
them  for  these  or  those;  say  "  See  those  boys!  "     "  See  these 

men." 
these  or  those       for  this  or  that;  say  *'  I  like  this  kind  and  that  kind;  " 

"  I  do  not  like  these  kinds  nor  those  kinds." 
this  much  for   thus  much;   say  "  Thus  much'  favor  was   shown;" 

"  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go." 
that  much  for  so  much;  say  "  Can  you  not  show  so  much  kindness?" 

*'  So  far  he  went." 
to  home  for  at  home  or  home;  say  "He  is  home  now;  "  "I  was 

at  home." 
transpire  for   happen   or   occur;    say   "The   event   occurred   last 

fall;"   "The   much-talked-of   secret   has  at  last 

transpired." 
way  for  away;  say  "Away  down  East." 

ways  for  way ;  say  "  He  lives  a  little  way  from  here." 

without  for  unless;  say  "  I  can't  go  unless  you  go." 

Exactness  of  meaning  may  often  be  attained  merely  by 
care  in  the  use  of  the,  a,  and  an.  Observe  how  these  little 
words,  called  articles,  show  the  number  of  articles  or  of 
persons  referred  to  in  any  given  case.  Decide  how  many  flags 
each  of  the  following  expressions  includes  : 


A  red,  white,  and  blue  flag. 
A  red,  a  white,  and  a  blue  flag. 
A  red  and  white,  and  a  blue  flag. 
A  red,  and  a  blue  and  white  flag. 
A  red  and  blue,  and  a  white  flag. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  143 

Decide  also  how  many  men  each  of  the  following  expres- 
sions includes : 

We  see  here  the  man  and  soldier. 

We  see  here  the  man  and  the  soldier. 

We  see  here  the  man,  soldier,  and  hero. 

We  see  here  the  man,  the  soldier,  and  the  hero. 

I  give  you  here,  for  pleasure  and  for  profit,  a  charming 
story  nearly  five  hundred  years  old.  It  was  told  in  the  Saxon, 
the  Spanish,  and  the  German  tongues.  In  England  it  became 
a  popular  ballad,  sung  in  a  much  older  form  than  that  given 
here.  You  will  find  it  a  good  example  of  growth  and  change 
in  English. 

Read  the  lines  in  a  merry  and  musical  manner,  marking  by 
a  decided  pause  the  change  from  one  speaker  to  another. 

King  John  and  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury 

An  ancient  story  He  tell  you  anon 
Of  a  notable  prince,  that  was  called  King  John ; 
And  he  ruled  England  with  maine  and  with  might, 
For  he  did  great  wrong,  and  maintein'd  little  right. 

And  He  tell  you  a  story,  a  story  so  merrye. 
Concerning  the  Abbot  of  Canterburye  ; 
How  for  his  house-keeping  and  high  renowne, 
They  rode  poste  for  him  to  fair  London  towne. 

An  hundred  men,  the  king  did  heare  say. 
The  abbot  kept  in  his  house  every  day  ; 
And  fifty  golde  chaynes,*  without  any  doubt, 
In  velvet  coates  waited  the  abbot  about. 

*  Golde  chaynes :  attendants  or  servants  wearing  gold  chains. 


144  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

How,  now,  father  abbot,  I  hearc  it  of  thee, 
Thou  keepest  a  f  arre  better  house  than  niee, 
And  for  thy  house-keeping  and  high  renowne, 
I  fear  thou  work'st  treason  against  my  crowne. 

My  liege,  quo'  the  abbot,  I  would  it  were  knowne, 
I  never  spend  nothing,  but  what  is  my  owne ; 
And  I  trust  your  grace  will  do  me  no  deere,* 
For  spending  of  my  own  true-gotten  geere-t 

Yes,  yes,  father  abbot,  thy  fault  it  is  highe. 
And  now  for  the  same  thou  needest  must  dye ; 
For  except  thou  canst  answer  me  questions  three, 
Thy  head  shall  be  smitten  from  thy  bodie. 

And  first,  quo'  the  king,  when  I'm  in  this  stead, 
With  my  crowne  of  golde  so  faire  on  my  head, 
Among  all  my  liege-men  so  noble  of  birthe, 
Thou  must  tell  me  to  one  penny  what  I  am  worthe. 

Secondlye,  tell  me,  without  any  doubt. 
How  soone  I  may  ride  the  whole  w^orld  about. 
And  at  the  third  question  thou  must  not  shrink, 
But  tell  me  here  trul}^  what  I  do  think. 

O,  these  are  hard  questions  for  my  shallow  witt. 
Nor  I  cannot  answer  your  grace  as  yet ; 
But  if  you  will  give  me  but  three  weekes  space, 
He  do  my  endeavor  to  answer  your  grace. 

Now  three  weekes  space  to  thee  will  I  give, 
And  that  is  the  longest  time  thou  hast  to  live ; 
For  if  thou  dost  not  answer  my  questions  three, 
Thy  lands  and  thy  livings  are  forfeit  to  mee. 


♦  Deere,  or  dere :  harm, 
t  Geere,  gear:  wealth. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  145 

Away  rode  the  abl^ot  all  sad  at  that  word, 
And  he  rode  to  Cambridge,  and  Oxenford; 
But  never  a  doctor  there  was  so  wise, 
That  could  with  his  learning  an  answer  devise. 

Then  home  rode  the  abbot  of  comfort  so  cold, 
And  he  met  his  shepheard  a  going  to  fold ; 
How  now,  my  lord  abbot,  you  are  welcome  home ; 
What  newes  do  you  bring  us  from  good  King  John? 

''  Sad  newes,  sad  newes,  shepheard,  I  must  give; 
That  I  have  but  three  days  more  to  live : 
For  if  I  do  not  answer  him  questions  three, 
My  head  will  be  smitten  from  my  bodie. 

"  The  first  is  to  tell  him  there  in  that  stead. 
With  his  crowne  of  golde  so  fair  on  his  head. 
Among  all  his  liege  men  so  noble  of  birth. 
To  within  one  penny  of  what  he  is  worth. 

''  The  seconde,  to  tell  him,  without  any  doubt, 
How  soone  he  may  ride  this  whole  world  about : 
And  at  the  third  question  I  must  not  shrinke. 
But  tell  him  there  truly  what  he  does  thinke." 

Now  cheare  up,  sire  abbot,  did  you  never  hear  yet, 
That  a  fool  he  may  learn  a  wise  man  witt? 
Lend  me  horse,  and  serving  men,  and  your  apparel, 
And  I'll  ride  to  London  to  answere  your  quarrel. 

Nay  frowne  not,  if  it  hath  been  told  unto  mee, 
I  am  like  your  lordship,  as  ever  may  bee  : 
And  if  you  will  but  lend  me  your  gowne. 
There  is  none  shall  know  us  at  fair  London  towne. 

Now  horses,  and  serving-men  thou  shalt  have. 
With  sumptuous  array  most  gallant  and  brave : 


146  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

With  crozier,  and  miter,  and  rochet,  and  cope, 
Fit  to  appear  'fore  our  fader  the  pope. 

Now  welcome,  sire  abbot,  the  king  he  did  say, 
Tis  well  thou'rt  come  back  to  keepe  thy  day ; 
For  and  if  thou  canst  answer  my  questions  three. 
Thy  life  and  thy  living  both  saved  shall  bee. 

And  first,  when  thou  seest  me  here  in  this  stead, 
With  my  crowne  of  golde  so  fair  on  my  head. 
Among  all  my  liege-men  so  noble  of  birthe, 
Tell  me  to  one  penny  what  I  am  worth. 

**  For  thirty  pence  our  Saviour  was  sold 
Among  the  false  Jewes,  as  I  have  bin  told ; 
And  twenty  nine  is  the  worth  of  thee. 
For  I  thinke,  thou  art  one  penny  worser  than  hee." 

The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  St.  Bittel, 
I  did  not  think  I  had  been  worth  so  littel ! 
—  Now  secondly  tell  me,  without  any  doubt. 
How  soone  I  may  ride  this  whole  world  about. 


u 


You  must  rise  with  the  sun,  and  ride  with  the  same, 
Until  the  next  morning  he  riseth  againe  ; 
And  then  your  grace  need  not  make  any  doubt. 
But  in  twenty-four  hours  you'll  ride  it  about." 

The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  St.  Jone, 

I  did  not  think  it  could  be  gone  so  soone  ! 

—  Now  from  the  third  question  thou  must  not  shrinke, 

But  tell  me  here  truly  what  I  do  thinke. 

Yea,  that  shall  I  do,  and  make  your  grace  merry : 
You  thinke  I'm  the  abbot  of  Canterbury  ; 
But  I'm  his  poor  shepheard,  as  plain  you  may  see, 
That  am  come  to  beg  pardon  for  him  and  for  mee." 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  147 

The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  the  masse, 
He  make  thee  lord  abbot  this  day  in  his  place ! 
**  Now  naye,  my  liege,  be  not  in  such  speede, 
For  alacke,  I  can  neither  write  ne  reade." 

Four  nobles  a  weeke,  then  I  will  give  thee, 
For  this  merry  jest  thou  hast  showne  unto  mee  ; 
And  tell  the  old  abbot  when  thou  comest  home. 
Thou  hast  brought  him  a  pardon  from  good  King  John. 

EXERCISES 

1.  Oral:  1.  Discuss,  stanza  by  stanza,  "King  John 
and  the  Abbot/'  Find  in  it  four  expressions,  not  simply 
archaic,  or  old-fashioned,  but  really  incorrect  according  to 
modern  use. 

2.  Do  you  prefer  the  old  spelling  bin  or  the  modern 
form  been  ?     Why  ? 

3.  Explain  anony  maine,  maintein,  liege,  devise,  stead 
(compare  instead) ;  crozier,  miter ^  rochet,  cope  ;  how  is  notable 
pronounced  here,  and  what  does  it  mean  when  pronounced 
notable  ?  What  is  the  modern  form  of  "  with  maine  and  with 
might "  ? 

4.  How  did  the  shepherd  slyly  flatter  the  king  and  put 
him  into  good  humor  in  answering  the  first  question?  To 
show  this,  do  you  emphasize  one  or  worser  f 

5.  By  explanation,  show  that  can,  7nay,  shall,  will, 
would,  and  could  are  correctly  used  in  every  instance  in  this 
poem.  Find  a  line  where  will  is  used  to  express  expectation, 
when  shall  would  have  shown  the  inevitable.  Which  would 
you  prefer  to  use  ? 

6.  Point  out  the  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  use  of  con- 


148  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

tractions  and   of  quotation  marks.     In  how  many   ways   does 
the  poem  illustrate  growth  and  change  in  English  ? 

II.  Mental:  Review  Chapters  IV,  XVI,  and  XVII, 
observing  how  this  poem  illustrates  the  teaching  of  each. 

III.  Oral :  Make  sentences  of  your  own,  using  correctly  all 
the  italicized  words  that  are  listed  in  this  chapter  as  often  misused. 

IV.  Suggested  Mental  and  Oral:  Study  carefully  the 
different  uses  of  the  similar  words  in  the  following  sentences, 
and  then  explain  the  idea  carried  by  each : 

He  stood  finii ;  he  braced  himself  firmly. 
He  looks  bad  and  dissipated,  and  acts  badly. 
This  kind  of  apple  tastes  sour,  that  kind  sweet. 
Those  kinds  do  not  suit  me  ;  these  kinds  do. 
Only  boys  take  to  swimming  as  naturally  as  ducks. 
Only  last  summer  I  took  lessons  in  drawing. 
Last  summer  I  took  lessons  in  drawing  only. 
I  studied  only  an  hour ;  T  read  nearly  two  hours. 
I  only  studied  an  hour ;  the  rest  of  the  time  I  drew. 
It  is  a  real  trouble,  and  he  is  very  patient. 
He  was  really  patient  thni  all. 
Quote  accui-ately  to  the  least  word. 
That  quotation  did  not  sound  accurate. 
How  quietly  the  snow  falls  !  how  quiet  it  lies  ! 
His  voice  sounds  out  clear  and  distinct. 
Read  clearly  and  distinctly,  not  too  rapidly. 
He  smiled  pleasantly,  but  said,  "I  do  not  feel  pleasant." 
In  winter  milk  often  turns  bitter  instead  of  sour. 
She  smiled  bitterly,  and  answered  sourly. 
,  She  looked  charming,  and  sang  charmingly. 

He  looked  cross,  and  spoke  crossly. 
How  sharply  he  looked  at  it !     How  sharp  he  looks ! 
Her  voice  sounded  soft.     She  moved  softly. 
Answer  promptly  and  be  prompt. 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  149 

V.  Mental :  1.  Make  for  yourselves  mind  pictures  for 
each  of  the  following  expressions : 

Silent  rows  the  fisher  lad. 
Silently  rows  the  fisher  lad. 

Is  there  a  decided  difference  between  the  mind  pictures  of  a 
silent  boy  rowing,  and  of  a  boy  whose  rowing  is  noiseless? 
Which  picture  do  you  consider  the  more  beautiful  ?  Can  you 
explain  why? 

2.  Decide  for  yourselves  what  the  following  expressions 
mean : 

I  should  like  to  have  gone  to  the  concert. 
I  should  have  liked  to  go  to  the  conceil. 

Which  of  these  conveys  the  idea  that  is  usually  intended  by 
the  speaker  ? 

3.  We  often  hear  the  remark,  "Well,  every  one  can't  go  !  " 
Decide  just  what  this  means,  and  what  each  of  the  following 
sentences  means  : 

Not  every  one  can  go. 
Some  can  not  go. 
Nobody  can  go. 

4.  Determine  just  which  of  these  remarks  is  the  one  you 
often  intend  to  make  : 

1  expect  to  hear  the  bell  every  minute. 
I  expect  every  minute  to  hear  the  bell. 
I  expect  to  hear  the  bell  any  minute. 

5.  Remember  that  in  English  the  order  of  the  words 
used  now  takes  the  place  of  the  many  little  endings  once  used ; 
then  decide  that  you  will  try  to  think  clearly  and  to  speak  your 
thoughts  exactly  as  you  mean  them. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   LITERAL   AND   THE   FIGURATIVE 

Will  you  name  for  me  today  all  the  objects  you  can  think 
of  that  are  keen  or  sharp  f  [Discussion.]  I  hear  the  names 
knife,  scissors,  axe,  hatchet,  needle,  pin,  dagger,  tack,  nail, 
fork,  sword,  stiletto,  pen.  All  these  objects  may  possess  the 
quality  of  sharpness.  Can  you  think  of  anything  else  that  is 
sharp  ?  Have  you  ever  heard  of  a  sharp  voice,  a  sharp  look,  a 
sharp  answer,  a  sharp  child,  or  of  sharp  vinegar?  Some  of 
you  have,  and  our  greatest  writer  of  English,  William  Shaks- 
pere,  once  wrote. 

How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child. 

In  a  similar  way  we  speak  of  wood,  metal,  glass,  and  stone  as 
being  hard  ;  and  we  also  speak  of  hard  luck,  of  hard  times,  of 
a  hard  man,  of  a  hard  face  or  voice  or  disposition.  We  speak, 
too,  of  bitter  sorrow,  of  bitter  tears ;  of  soft  tones,  a  soft  heart, 
soft  colors ;  of  a  cold  manner,  a  cold  look ;  of  a  warm  heart  and 
a  cool  head:  and  in  a  certain  popular  phrase  we  find  "the 
marble  heart  and  the  glad  hand."  We  call  sugar,  honey, 
syrup,  and  candy,  sweet,  because  they  appeal  to  our  sense  of 
taste ;  and  we  call  a  rose  and  other  fragrant  flowers  sweet, 
because  they  appeal  to  our  sense  of  smell.  Yet  this  is  only  one 
narrow  use  of  the  word  sweet. 

These  widely  different  uses  of  sharp  and  of  similar  words 

150 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  151 

are  called  respectively  literal  and  figurative.  The  former  is 
the  plain,  matter-of-fact  use,  and  the  latter  is  the  fanciful,  or 
poetic,  and  not  matter-of-fact.  If  you  should  get  into  a 
temper, —  which,  I  trust,  none  of  you  ever  do  ! —  you  would 
be  pretty  sure  to  call  names,  or  use  offensive  epithets,  and  this 
is  one  very  common  use  of  figures  in  colloquial  language. 
Mothers  often  talk  largely  in  figurative  language  as  they  rock 
their  babies  to  sleep  with  lullaby  songs.  Notice  this  in  very 
many  lullabies.  For  example,  in  Eugene  Field's  "Armenian 
Lullaby  "  you  may  find  the  expressions,  silver  boat,  golden  sea, 
diamond  stars,  emerald  vine,  ruby  wine,  amethyst  deep  of 
the  curtained  skies,  onyx  eyes, —  seven  picture  words,  all 
inspired  by  the  black-eyed  Armenian  baby,  and  every  one  taken 
from  a  gem  or  precious  stone ;  and  the  entire  poem  is  a  succes- 
sion of  word  pictures  suited  to  an  oriental  child. 

Epithets  and  expressions  such  as  these  are  one  kind  of 
figures  of  sj^eech.  Language  would  be  as  dry  as  dust  without 
figures  to  relieve  it.  Li  fact,  without  figures,  it  could  never 
have  become  much  of  a  language ;  for  do  you  not  see  that  all 
language  had  first  of  all  to  be  literal  ?  Then,  very  soon,  the 
literal  terms  for  things  seen  began  to  be  used  for  things  not  seen. 

Much  of  the  highest  beauty  in  language  comes  from  fig- 
ures, which  brighten  speech  as  flowers  do  a  meadow.  In  your 
lists  of  word  pictures  you  will  have  chiefly  figurative  expres- 
sions. You  see,  at  once,  that  the  use  of  a  figure  implies  the 
seeing  of  a  likeness  between  objects.  This  power  to  see  things 
with  bodily  eyes,  and  to  see  the  likenesses  between  things  with 
the  eyes  of  mind  and  soul,  is  chiefly  what  makes  great  writers 
or  great  artists  or  great  inventors. 

How  much  more  important  the  figurative  use  of  a  word 


152  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

may  be  than  its  literal  use  will  be  clear  to  you  after  considering 
the  most  common  uses  of  sweet.  Thus,  Shakspere  says,  among 
scores  of  other  examples,  sweet  mercy ;  sweet  sorrow ;  sweet 
bird ;  sweet  shepherd  ;  my  lady  sweet ;  sweet  sprites  ;  sweet 
1  ullaby.  Other  writers  mention  sweet  memory  ;  sweet  solitude  ; 
sweet  revenge  ;  sweet  disorder  ;  sweet  melancholy  ;  sweet  land 
of  liberty  ;  sweet  freedom's  song ;  sweet  bells ;  sweet  visions ; 
sweet  story  of  old  ;  sweet  joy  ;  sweet  eyes  ;  sweet  wind  ;  sweet 
pleasure ;  sweet  Auburn  ;  sweet  spring  ;  sweet  slumbers  ;  sweet 
maid ;  sweet  air.  So,  too,  more  at  length,  you  may  see  here 
the  word  as  used  by  four  great  writers : 

Sweet  is  true  love,  though  given  in  vain,  in  vain  ; 
And  sweet  is  death  who  puts  an  end  to  pain ; 
I  know  not  which  is  sweeter,  no,  not  I. 
Love,  art  thou  sweet?  then  bitter  death  must  be  ; 
Love,  art  thou  bitter?  sweet  is  death  to  me  ; 
O  Love,  if  death  be  sweeter,  let  me  die. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

'Tis  sweet  to  hear  the  watchdog's  honest  bark 

Bay  deep-mouth'd  welcome  as  we  draw  near  home  ; 
'Tis  sweet  to  know  there  is  an  eye  will  mark 

Our  coming,  and  look  brighter  when  we  come  ; 
'Tis  sweet  to  be  awakened  by  the  lark. 

Or  lull'd  by  falling  waters  ;  sweet  the  hum 
Of  bees,  the  voice  of  girls,  the  song  of  birds, 

The  lisp  of  children,  and  their  earliest  words. 

Lord  Byron. 

.  You  say  that  ' '  this  world  to  you  seems  drained  of  all  its 
sweets"  !  At  first  I  had  hoped  you  only  meant  to  insinuate  the  high  price 
of  sugar!  but  I  am  afraid  you  meant  more.  O  Robert,  I  don't  know 
what  you  call  sweet.     Honey  and  the  honeycomb,  roses  and  violets  are 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  153 

yet  in  the  earth.  The  sun  and  moon  yet  reign  in  Heaven,  and  the  lesser 
lights  keep  up  their  pretty  twinklings.  Meats  and  drinks,  sweet  sights 
and  sweet  smells,  a  country  walk,  spring  and  autumn,  follies  and  repent- 
ance, quarrels  and  reconcilements,  have  all  a  sweetness  by  turns.  Good 
humor  and  good  nature,  friends  at  home  that  love  you,  and  friends  abroad 
that  miss  you,  you  possess  all  these  things,  and  more  innumerable,  and 
these  are  all  sweet  things.  .  .  You  may  extract  honey  from  every- 
thing; do  not  go  a-gathering  after  gall.  The  bees  are  wiser  in  their 
generation. 

From  a  letter  to  Bobert  Lloyd,  by  Charles  Lamb. 

Sweet  Is  the  Rose 

Sweet  is  the  rose,  but  grows  upon  a  brere ; 
Sweet  is  the  juniper,  but  sharp  his  bough; 
Sweet  is  the  eglantine,  but  pricketh  near ; 
Sweet  is  the  fir  bloom,  but  his  branches  rough; 
Sweet  is  the  Cyprus,  but  his  rind  is  tough. 
Sweet  is  the  nut,  but  bitter  is  his  pill ; 
Sweet  is  the  broom  flower,  but  yet  sour  enough ; 
And  sweet  is  moly,  but  his  root  is  ill ; 
So,  every  sweet  with  sour  is  tempered  still. 
That  maketh  it  be  coveted  the  more : 
For  easy  things  that  may  be  got  at  will 
Most  sort  of  men  do  set  but  little  store. 
Why  then  should  I  account  of  little  pain, 
That  endless  pleasure  shall  unto  me  gain? 

Edmund  Spenser. 

I  have  chosen  this  word  sweet  to  put  before  you,  because 
it  has  probably  been  used  far  more  freely  than  any  other  word 
to  describe  all  that  is  agreeable  and  pleasing.  One  famous 
poet  applies  it  to  more  than  thirty  different  things  in  a  single 
passage.  Thus  it  has  finally  passed  into  everyday  speech,  until, 
emptied  of   all  meaning,  we  now  feel    no  surprise  at  its  use, 


154  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

when  a  dress,  a  picture,  a  bonnet,  or  a  baby  is  said  to  be  "  too 
sweet  for  anything,"  and  neither  do  we  feel  any  pleasure  in 
that  use.  Like  awful  and  horrid  and  splendid  and  dreadfid, 
it  has  become  hackneyed,  or  worn  out.  We  call  it  a  faded 
figure  like  the  word  robust,  which  really  means  made  of  oak, 
but  which  does  not  often  now  convey  that  meaning. 

You  will  find  that  most  writers  of  good  taste  avoid  today 
the  word  sweet,  except  in  its  literal  uses  as  applied  to  the 
physical  senses.  I  wonder  whether  any  of  you  are  helping  to 
wear  out  the  figurative  use  of  some  word.  Will  you  watch 
your  own  speech,  and  try  to  see  ? 

EXERCISES 

I.  Mental :  A  study  of  Spenser's  "  Sweet  Is  the 
Rose : " 

The  last  poem  quoted  in  this  chapter  was  written  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  at  the  same  time  that  William  Shakspere  was 
writing  his  great  dramas. 

Brere  you  know  at  once  for  our  modern  briar.  Notice  that  bought 
roughs  tough^  and  ejiough  were  all  riming  words  pronounced  with  ou  as 
in  found.  Like  the  other  words  in  ough  given  in  our  last  lesson,  they 
were  once  spelled  simply  with  on  or  ow.  Even  now  we  see  rough  in  roiVy 
and  rowdy,  and  in  poetry  we  occasionally  see  enow  for  enough.  So,  also, 
the  word  bough  we  spell  simply  when  we  use  it  in  bowing.^  or  inclining  the 
head.  Try  pronouncing  all  the  ough  words  of  this  poem  to  rime  with 
bough.,  and  you  will  not  feel  them  strangers  to  you  under  their  former  names. 
Tf  you  have  access  to  Webster's  International  or  to  the  Century  Dictionary 
you  can,  if  you  like,  find  there  all  the  older  forms  of  these  words. 

Do  you  know  the  juniper,  with  a  bluish- whitd  bloom  upon  its  green 
berries,  and  do  you  recall  how  "  sharp"  the  branches  are  to  pluck,  with 
the  stiff   yet   fragrant   needles?     Do   you    know  and   love   that   oldtime 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  155 

favorite,  sweetbriar,  or  eglantine?     And  does  not  its  fragrance  atone  for 
its  numberless  thorns? 

Which  Cyprus  Spenser  meant  is  not  certain.  More  than  one  sort  of 
Cyprus  yields  a  fragrant  oil.  But  the  fir-bloom  may  well  be  our  balsam 
fir  with  healing  odors  stored  away  in  its  pine-like  needles. 

If  the  word  pill  (sometimes  also  peU)  had  been  written  peel  or  even 
pelt^  as  it  has  come  down  in  modern  use,  you  would  at  once  have  guessed 
the  meaning  of  hitter  pill.  I  am  sure  many  boys  and  girls  know  the 
taste  of  the  hitter  pill  of  our  hickory  nut. 

The  beautiful  yellow  broom,  making  golden  patches  in  the  English 
summer  landscape,  is  called  *'sour  enough,"  either  from  the  taste  of  a 
medicine  made  from  it,  or,  more  probably,  because  of  its  stiff,  sharp 
spines.  It  is  a  low  bush,  or  shrub,  in  blossom  somewhat  resembling  our 
white  locust.  When,  some  day,  you  shall  have  come  to  know  well  the 
word  Plantagenet^  you  will  never  again  forget  the  broom-flower,  famous  in 
song  and  story. 

Perhaps  you  have  gathered  the  lavender-colored  blossoms  of  the  wild 
onion  or  garlic.  If  so,  you  know  the  ill-smelling  root  of  one  sort  of  moly. 
But  Spenser  may  here  have  referred  to  the  magical  moly  of  Homer,  with 
milk-white  flowers  and  ink-black  root,  given  Ulysses  by  Hermes  as  a 
charm  against  Circe's  power. 

Would  the  common  proverb,  ''Every  rose  has  its  thorn,"  convey 
nearly  the  same  idea  as  the  ninth  line?  Do  you  think  of  any  other  com- 
mon proverbs  suggested  by  other  lines?  Edmund  Spenser  here  uses  the 
word  sweet  eight  times  of  things  that  appeal  to  one  or  other  of  the  senses, 
and  in  the  ninth  line  he  lifts  it  up  to  include  everything  in  life  that  we 
may  worthily  desire.  Do  you  think  it  trae  that  diflflculty  of  acquirement 
makes  most  things  "to  be  coveted  the  more"?  Has  Spenser  given  us  a 
wise  hint  in  the  two  last  lines?  Why,  indeed,  should  you  or  I  care  about, 
or  take  account  of^  small  drawbacks,  a  "little  pain,"  in  seeking  with 
utmost  strength  the  things  that  bring  us  endless  joy? 

I  hope  that  some  of  you  may  choose  to  commit  this  fine  old  poem  to 
memory  so  thoroly  that  it  shall  never  be  forgotten  past  recall. 


156  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

II.  Mental  and  Oral :  We  speak  literally  of  (jahhliiKj 
geese ;  a  buzzing  saw ;  hitter  chocolate  ;  a  chilly  breeze ;  hard 
wood  5  green  leaves  ;  ripe  fruits  ;  soft  foods  ;  boiling  water ; 
sharp  teeth ;  graceful  children ;  a  happy  child ;  a  sly  fox ;  a 
grinning  clown ;  a  flying  bird.  Use  each  of  these  epithets 
figuratively  of  as  many  things  as  possible. 

III.  Mental :  Try  to  find  in  your  own  thought  some 
good  reasons  for  the  use  of  figures  in  language.  Are  they  use- 
ful chiefly  for  convenience  or  for  pleasure  ? 

IV.  Written  :  Begin  in  your  wordbooks  a  collection  of 
pleasing  word  pictures  chiefly  or  wholly  literal,  citing  the 
author  wherever  known.  If  literal  and  figurative  language  are 
combined,  as  is  common,  underscore  the  words  not  used  literally. 


The  Rhodora* 
In  May,  when  sea-winds  pierced  our  solitudes, 
I  found  the  fresh  Rhodora  in  the  woods, 
Spreading  its  leafless  blooms  in  a  damp  nook, 
To  please  the  desert  and  the  sluggish  brook. 
The  purple  petals,  fallen  in  the  pool, 
Made  the  black  water  with  their  beauty  gay ; 
Here  might  the  red-bird  come  his  plumes  to  cool, 
And  court  the  flower  that  cheapens  his  array. 
Rhodora !  if  the  sages  ask  thee  why 
This  charm  is  wasted  on  the  earth  and  sky, 
Tell  them,  dear,  that  if  eyes  were  made  for  seeing. 
Then  Beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being  : 
Why  thou  wert  there,  O  rival  of  the  rose  ! 
I  never  thought  to  ask,  I  never  knew  : 
But,  in  my  simple  ignorance,  suppose 
The  self-same  Power  that  brought  me  there  brought  you. 

Balph  Waldo  Emerson 
*  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub- 
lishers of  Emerson's  works. 


CHAPTEK   XXII 

THE   PLEASURE   DERIVED   FROM    FIGURES 

Burns  says  of  the  mountain  daisy : 

Caulcl  blew  the  bitter-biting  north 
Upon  thy  early,  humble  birth  ; 
Yet  cheerfully  thou  glinted  forth 
Amid  the  storm. 

Here  the  words  "  bitter-biting  north,"  "  birth,"  "  cheerful,"  and 
"  glinted "  can  none  of  them  be  used  with  literal  truth.  Yet 
they  swiftly  give  us  the  contrasted  mind  pictures  of  the  daisy 
and  its  bleak  surroundings.  Will  you  now  try  to  put  into 
plain,  matter-of-fact  language  the  thoughts  given  in  these  lines  ? 
—  If  you  have  paused  to  try,  as  I  hope  you  did,  I  think  you 
will  see  that  beauty  has  vanished,  as  well  as  simplicity.  Only 
masters  of  thought  and  of  language  have  power,  as  did  Burns, 
thus  to  convey  into  our  minds  the  beautiful  pictures  born  in 
their  own. 

You  see  by  this  one  example  how  figures  shorten  and  con- 
dense speech.  It  is  convenient,  as  well  as  economical  of  time 
and  effort,  to  say,  "  Bite,  frost,  bite ;  "  for  thus  by  a  single 
epithet  a  whole  story  is  told.  We  enjoy  this  suggestion  of  a 
likeness  between  two  unlike  things ;  and,  aside  from  the  fact  of 
convenience,  the  new,  the  unusual,  the  unexpected,  brings  to  us 
a  pleasure  of  its  own. 

Poets  speak  of  "  piping   winds,"  of  "  happy  dew,"   of  a 

167 


158  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

"  chattering  brook,"  of  an  "  angry  wind  ; "   Longfellow  says, 
"  The  wood-fire  clapped  its  hands  of  flame  ;  "  and  Lowell, 

Hang  my  idle  armor  up  on  the  wall : 
Let  it  be  the  spider's  banquet  hall. 

Tennyson  gives  these  pictures  : 

The  black  bat,  night,  has  flown. 

The  Old  Year  lies  a-dying. 

He  dragged  his  eye-brow  bushes  down,  and  made 
A  snowy  pent- house  for  his  hollow  eyes. 

These  figures  give  us  pleasure,  at  the  same  moment,  in 
several  different  ways.  Perhaps  we  make  swift  mind  pictures ; 
perhaps  we  recognize  new  and  interesting  resemblances ;  per- 
haps we  delight  in  the  beauty  of  the  language  for  its  own  sake. 

You  may  have  seen  some  child  wear  a  string  of  amber 
beads,  or  may  have  noticed  some  other  beautiful  article  made 
from  amber.  Your  geography  tells  you  that  amber  is  found 
washed  up  on  the  shores  of  certain  seas.  For  many  years  no 
one  knew  its  origin,  altho  it  is  now  supposed  to  be  the  resin  of 
pine  forests  that  lived  when  Earth  was  young.  The  quick 
fancy  of  John  Milton,  who  was  a  master  weaver  of  figures, 
seized  upon  this  word  amber  and  painted  a  beautiful  word  pic- 
ture with  it.  He  speaks  of  a  sea  nymph  with  amber-droppi7ig 
hair;  and  at  once  our  thought  paints  a  mermaid  sitting  beneath 
the  salt  sea  waves  with  amber  pearls  rolling  off  her  yellow  locks. 

That  this  figure  may  give  us  pleasure  depends  upon  sev- 
eral things :  first,  upon  our  knowledge  of  the  color  of  amber,  of 
its  precious  nature,  and  of  its  sea  origin  ;  second,  upon  our  rec- 
ognizing swiftly  the  resemblance  in  color  between  pale  yellow 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  159 

amber  and  flaxen  tresses ;  third,  upon  our  ability  to  form  a 
mind  picture  corresponding  to  the  word  picture ;  and,  last, 
upon  our  own  feeling  for  the  beauty  of  the  poet's  fanciful  idea 
as  to  the  orio-in  of  amber. 

It  follows  from  this  that  if  a  beautiful  figure  gives  no 
pleasure,  or  if  it  conveys  no  meaning  whatever,  the  reason  may 
lie  in  one's  lack  of  knowledge.  We  cannot  re-cognize,  or  know 
again,  what  we  have  never  known  before.  Hence  it  follows, 
also,  that  figurative  language  is  often  a  sealed  treasure  box  to 
the  ignorant  mind.  Happily,  figures  need  not  be  drawn  from 
obscure  sources  in  order  to  be  beautiful ;  and  literature  is  full 
of  imagery  that  is  simple  enough  for  a  young  child. 

Here  is  an  example  of  this : 

The  night  has  a  thousand  eyes, 

And  the  day  but  one  ; 
Yet  the  light  of  the  bright  world  dies 

With  the  dying  sun. 

The  mind  has  a  thousand  eyes, 

And  the  heart  but  one  ; 
Yet  the  light  of  a  whole  life  dies 

When  love  is  done. 

Francis  W.  Bourdillon. 

And  here  is  another  : 

When  Freedom  from  her  mountain  height 

Unfurl' d  her  standard  to  the  air. 
She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night, 

And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there ; 
She  mingled  with  its  gorgeous  dyes 
The  milky  baldric  of  the  skies, 
And  striped  its  pure,  celestial  white, 


160  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

With  streakings  of  the  morning  light; 
Then  from  his  mansion  in  tlie  sun 
She  call'd  her  eagle-bearer  down, 
And  gave  into  his  mighty  hand 
The  symbol  of  her  chosen  land. 

From  "  The  American  Flag"  by  Joseph  Bodman 
Drake. 

Baldric  means  a  belt ;  here,  the  Milky  Way.  Are  you  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  your  own  bedroom  window  look  toward 
the  east?  If  so,  have  you  learned  to  know  and  to  love  those 
wonderful  "  streakings  of  the  morning  light "  to  be  seen  fre- 
quently for  a  little  while  just  before  the  sun  rises?  If  you 
have,  you  will  at  once  recognize  the  resemblance  between  oui 
barred  banner  and  the  crimson-barred  sky.  After  this  famous 
stanza  is  familiar  to  you,  I  fancy  that  the  poet's  name  for  those 
wonderful  sky  effects  will  come  often  to  your  mind. 

I  shall  give  you  here  two  of  the  most  famous  morning 
songs  that  the  English  language  knows.  The  first  is  literal, 
except  for  the  word  "  dew-pearled." 

The  year's  at  the  spring 
And  day's  at  the  morn  ; 
Morning's  at  seven ; 
The  hillside's  dew-pearled ; 
The  lark's  on  the  wing ; 
The  snail's  on  the  thorn  : 
God's  in  his  heaven  — 
All's  right  with  the  world  ! 

Robert  Browning. 

In  this  poem  the  child  Pippa,  filled  with  youth  and  hope  and 
joy,  exulting  in  the  common,  everyday  features  of  the  spring 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH  161 

morning,  thanks  God  and  is  satisfied.     The  whole  song  glori- 
fies morning  and  life  and  God. 
Now  consider  this  : 

Hark  !  hark !  the  lark  at  heaven's  gate  sings, 

And  Phcebus  'gins  arise, 
His  steeds  to  water  at  those  springs 

On  chaliced  flowers  that  lies ; 

And  winking  Mary-buds  begin 

To  ope  their  golden  eyes  ; 
With  everything  that  pretty  bin, 

My  lady  sweet,  arise ; 

Arise,  arise. 

William  Shakspere. 

You  may  at  first  be  a  little  puzzled  because  the  poet  says, 
"  At  springs  that  lies,"  where  we  today  would  say  "  that  lie," 
and  also  at  his  use  of  ^'  bin  "  for  "  is."  Both  these  uses  were 
for  the  sake  of  the  rime,  and  were  considered  quite  proper  in 
Shakspere's  day.  You  will  not  notice  them  after  you  really 
know  the  lines. 

This  second  song  is  very  musical,  and  we  involuntarily 
listen  for  a  moment  to  hear  the  lark.  It  is  a  continuous  word 
picture.  We  see  Apollo  and  his  chariot,  the  four  horses  quaff- 
ing the  dew  from  the  chalices,  or  cups,  of  flowers,  and  the 
marigold  buds  beginning  to  unfold.  By  this  use  of  figures 
Shakspere  makes  us  see  and  feel  the  morning. 

It  is  not  necessary  or  wise  to  declare  one  form  of  beauty, 
as  shown  in  these  poems,  better  or  greater  than  the  other.  It 
is  well  that  we  have  every  sort  of  beauty  to  fill  with  joy  every 
sort  of  mind.  If  to  you  the  joy  of  seeing  beauty  in  noble 
figures  is  given  as  birthright,  you  may  well  rejoice.     If  the  gift 


162  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

be  not  natural,  it  may  still  be  cultivated  to  a  large  extent ;  and 
if  so  be  that  cultivation  does  not  develop  it,  then  there  is  left 
you  the  beauty  of  the  literal  and  matter-of-fact.  Beauty  of 
every  sort  is  God's  best  gift  to  us ;  and  you  should  set  your 
facft  to  find  it,  somewhere,  everywhere  if  possible. 

One  who  becomes  master  of  words  and  of  the  ideas  that 
they  name  turns  them  to  his  use  as  deftly  and  naturally  as 
birds  weave  all  sorts  of  material  into  beautiful  homes.  The 
real  trouble  with  most  awkward  talkers  and  writers  is  that  the 
mental  cupboard  is  as  bare  as  Mother  Hubbard's ;  or,  to  use  a 
different  figure,  if  you  feed  only  straw  into  your  mental  thresh- 
ing machines,  they  can  yield  no  wheat  kernels  of  beautiful 
speech.  Only  the  same  old  straw,  threshed  over  and  over 
again,  will  be  poured  forth,  less  and  less  beautiful  with  every 
successive  passage,  until  at  last  it  must  become  mere  chaff. 


EXERCISES 

I.      Oral:  Discuss  the  figures  of  the  following  poem   as 
fully  as  need  be,  to  explain  the  resemblances : 

Spring 

Now  that  the  winter's  gone,  the  earth  hath  lost 

Her  snow-white  robes ;  and  now  no  more  the  frost 

Candies  the  grass  or  casts  an  icy  cream 

Upon  the  silver  lake  or  crystal  stream  : 

But  the  warm  sun  thaws  the  benumbed  earth, 

And  makes  it  tender ;  gives  a  sacred  birth 

To  the  dead  swallow  ;  wakes  in  hollow  tree 

The  drowsy  cuckoo  and  the  bumble-bee. 

Now  do  a  choir  of  chirping  minstrels  bring 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH  163 

In  triumph  to  the  world  the  youthful  spring ! 
The  valleys,  hills,  and  woods,  in  rich  array, 
Welcome  the  coming  of  the  longed-for  May. 

Thomas  Carew. 

II.  Mental,  and  then  Written :  Determine  which  figure 
in  the  poem  is  most  pleasing  to  yourself,  and  which  gives  you 
the  clearest  mind  picture.     Try  to  explain  why. 

III.  Oral:  With  readers  in  hand,  discuss  the  figures 
occurring  in  several  selections  assigned  by  your  teacher. 

IV.  Written  :  Begin  a  collection  of  short  and  beautiful 
figures,  to  be  gradually  transferred,  after  approval  by  your 
teacher,  to  the  pages  provided  for  the  same  in  your  wordbooks. 
Cite  the  author  of  each  quotation,  wherever  known. 

V.  Mental :  Try  to  decide  in  your  own  mind  upon  some 
one  beautiful  feature  of  the  coming  of  spring  in  your  own 
home,  not  named  in  Thomas  Carew's  poem.  Explain  or 
describe  this  to  yourself  in  the  most  fitting  language  possible. 

VI.  Written :     The  same. 


Appreciation  * 
To  the  sea-shell's  spiral  round 
'Tis  your  heart  that  brings  the  sound : 
The  soft  sea-murmurs  that  you  hear 
Within,  are  captured  from  your  ear. 

You  do  poets  and  their  song 

A  grievous  wrong 

If  your  own  soul  does  not  bring 

To  their  high  imagining 

As  much  beauty  as  they  sing. 

Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich. 
♦  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  authorized  pub- 
lishers of  Aldrich's  works. 


MEMOKY   GEMS 

A  Reassurance  * 

With  what  doubting  eyes,  O  sparrow, 

Thou  regardest  me. 
Underneath  yon  spray  of  yarrow, 

Dipping  cautiously. 

Fear  me  not,  O  little  sparrow, 

Bathe  and  never  fear, 
For  to  me  both  pool  and  yarrow 

And  thyself  are  dear. 

Archibald  Lampman. 


A   Chill   Night 

What  can  lambkins  do 

All  the  keen  night  through  ? 
Nestle  by  their  woolly  mother, 

The  careful  ewe. 

What  can  nestlings  do 

In  the  nightly  dew? 
Sleep  beneath  their  mother's  wing 

Till  day  breaks  anew. 

If  in  field  or  tree 

There  might  only  be 
Such  a  warm,  soft  sleeping-place 

Found  for  me ! 

Christina  G.  Bossetti. 

*  From  "Lyrics  of  Earth,"  and  reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers, 
Small,  Maynard  &  Company. 

164 


MEMORY  GEMS  166 

Joy   of   the   Morning  * 

I  hear  you,  little  bird, 
Shouting  a-swing  above  the  broken  wall. 
Shout  louder  yet :  no  song  can  tell  it  all. 
Sing  to  my  soul  in  the  deep,  still  wood : 
'Tis  wonderful  beyond  the  wildest  word : 
I'd  tell  it,  too,  if  I  could. 

Oft  when  the  white,  still  dawn 

Lifted  the  skies  and  pushed  the  hills  apart, 

I've  felt  it  like  a  glory  in  my  heart, 

(The  world's  mysterious  stir) 

But  had  no  throat  like  yours,  my  bird. 

Nor  such  a  listener. 

Edwin  Markham. 


The   Poet   to   the   Cloud  t 

Soft  white  cloud  in  the  sky. 

Wise  are  you  in  your  day ; 
One  side  turned  toward  God  on  high. 

One  toward  the  world  alway. 
Soft  white  cloud,  I  too 
Would  bear  me  like  to  you. 

So  might  I  secrets  learn 

From  heaven,  and  tell  to  men ; 

And  so  might  their  spirits  beat  and  bum 
To  make  it  their  counti-y  then. 

Soft  white  cloud,  make  mine 

Such  manner  of  life  as  thine. 

Bichard  Burton. 


Sing  ''Heart,  thou  art  wide  though  the  house  be  but  nan-ow  " — 
Sing  once,  and  sing  it  again. 

From  "  JSongs  of  Seven,"  Jean  Ingelow. 

♦  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  author. 

t  From  "  Lyrics  of  Brotherhood,"  and  reprinted  by  permission  of  the  pub- 
lishers, Small,  Maynard  &  Company. 


166  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


A  Christmas  Carol* 


There's  a  song  in  the  air ! 

There's  a  star  in  the  sky  ! 

There's  a  mother's  deep  prayer 

And  a  baby's  low  cry ! 
And  the  star  rains  its  fire  while  the  Beautiful  sing, 
For  the  manger  of  Bethlehem  cradles  a  king. 

There's  a  tumult  of  joy 

O'er  the  wonderful  birth, 

For  the  virgin's  sweet  boy 

Is  the  Lord  of  the  earth. 
Ay !  the  star  rains  its  fire  and  the  Beautiful  sing, 
For  the  manger  of  Bethlehem  cradles  a  king. 

In  the  light  of  'that  star 

Lie  the  ages  impearled ; 

And  that  song  from  afar 

Has  swept  over  the  world. 
Every  hearth  is  aflame,  and  the  Beautiful  sing 
In  the  homes  of  the  nations  that  Jesus  is  King. 

We  rejoice  in  the  light, 

And  we  echo  the  song 

That  comes  down  through  the  night 

From  the  heavenly  throng. 
Ay !  we  shout  to  the  lovely  evangel  they  bring, 
And  we  greet  in  his  cradle  our  Saviour  and  King. 

Josiah  Gilbert  Holland. 


Crowds  of  bees  are  giddy  with  clover, 
Crowds  of  grasshoppers  skip  at  our  feet. 

Crowds  of  larks  at  their  matins  hang  over, 
Thanking  the  Lord  for  a  life  so  sweet. 

From  "  Divided,"  Jean  Ingelow. 

*  From  "  Complete  Poetical  Writings,"  and  reprinted  by  permission  of  the 
publishers,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


MEMORY  GEMS  167 

The  Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket 

Green  little  vaulter  in  the  sunny  grass, 

Catching  your  heart  up  at  the  feel  of  June  — 
Sole  voice  that's  heard  amidst  the  lazy  noon, 

When  ev'n  the  bees  lag  at  the  summoning  brass  ; 

And  you,  warm  little  housekeeper,  who  class 

With  those  who  think  the  candles  come  too  soon. 
Loving  the  fire,  and  with  your  tricksome  tune 

Nick  the  glad  silent  moments  as  they  pass  ! 

O  sweet  and  tiny  cousins,  that  belong. 
One  to  the  fields,  the  other  to  the  hearth. 

Both  have  your  sunshine  ;  both,  though  small,  are  strong 
At  your  clear  hearts  ;  and  both  seem  given  to  earth 

To  sing  in  thoughtful  ears  this  natural  song, — 
Indoors  and  out,  summer  and  winter, —  Mirth. 

Leigh  Hunt. 

The  Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket 

The  poetry  of  eai-th  is  never  dead. 

When  all  the  birds  are  faint  with  the  hot  sun 

And  hide  in  cooling  trees,  a  voice  will  run 
From  hedge  to  hedge  about  the  new-mown  mead. 
That  is  the  grasshopper's  ;  he  takes  the  lead 

In  summer  luxury, —  he  has  never  done 

With  his  delights  ;  for,  when  tired  out  with  fun, 
He  rests  at  ease  beneath  some  pleasant  weed. 
The  poetry  of  earth  is  ceasing  never. 

On  a  lone  winter  evening,  when  the  frost 
Has  wrought  a  silence,  from  the  stove  there  shrills 
The  cricket's  song,  in  warmth  increasing  ever. 

And  seems  to  one  in  drowsiness  half-lost, 
The  grasshopper's  among  some  grassy  hills. 

John  Keats. 

Ye  living  flowers  that  skirt  the  etenial  frost ! 
Ye  wild  goats  sporting  round  the  eagle's  nest ! 
Ye  eagles,  playmates  of  the  mountain  storm ! 
Ye  lightnings,  the  dread  arrows  of  the  clouds ! 
Ye  signs  and  wonders  of  the  element ! 
Utter  forth  God,  and  fill  the  hills  with  praise ! 

From  "  Hymn  Before  Sunrise  in  the  Vale  of 
Chamouny"  Samuel  2\  Coleridge. 


168  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


When  beechen  buds  begin  to  swell, 

And  woods  the  blue-bird's  warble  know, 
The  yellow  violet's  modest  bell 

Peeps  from  the  last  year's  leaves  below. 

From  '*  The  Yellow  Violet"  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 


Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 
I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies ; — 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower  —  but  if  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is. 

Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson. 

Will  no  one  tell  me  what  she  sings  ?  — 

Perhaps  the  plaintive  numbers  flow 

For  old,  unhappy  far-off  things. 

And  battles  long  ago: 

Or  is  it  some  more  himible  lay, 

Familiar  matter  of  to-day  ? 

Some  natural  sorrow,  loss,  or  pain. 

That  has  been,  and  may  be  again? 

Whate'er  the  theme,  the  maiden  sang 
As  if  her  song  could  have  no  ending ; 
I  saw  her  singing  at  her  work. 
And  o'er  the  sickle  bending  ;  — 
I  listened,  motionless  and  still ; 
And,  as  I  mounted  up  the  hill, 
The  music  in  my  heart  J  bore. 
Long  after  it  was  heard  no  more. 

From  "  The  Solitary  Beaper"  William  Wordsworth. 


The  fresh  savannas  of  the  Sangamon 
Here  rise  in  gentle  swells,  and  the  long  grass 
Is  mixed  with  rastling  hazels.     Scarlet  tufts 
Are  glowing  in  the  green,  like  flakes  of  fire ; 
The  wanderers  of  the  prairie  know  them  well. 
And  call  that  brilliant  flower  the  Painted  Cup. 

From  "•  The  Painted  Cup,"  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 

*  Reprinted    by  permission  of    D.   Appleton  &   Company,   publishers  of 
Bryant's  complete  works. 


MEMORY  GEMS  169 

The  stormy  March  is  come  at  last, 

With  wind,  and  cloud,  and  changing  skies  ; 

I  hear  the  rushing  of  the  blast, 

That  through  the  snowy  valley  flies. 

Thou  bring' st  the  hope  of  those  calm  skies, 

And  that  soft  time  of  sunny  showers, 
When  the  wide  bloom,  on  earth  that  lies. 

Seems  of  a  brighter  world  than  ours. 

From  "•  March"  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 


These  are  the  gardens  of  the  desert,  these 

The  unshorn  fields,  boundless  and  beautiful, 

For  which  the  speech  of  England  has  no  name  — 

The  Prairies.     I  behold  them  for  the  first. 

And  my  heart  swells,  while  the  dilated  sight 

Takes  in  the  encircling  vastness.     Lo !  they  stretch, 

In  airy  undulations,  far  away, 

As  if  the  ocean,  in  his  gentlest  swell. 

Stood  still,  with  all  his  rounded  billows  fixed, 

And  motionless  forever. 

From  "■  The  Prtstiries"  William  Cullen  Bryant.* 


Up  in  the  Morning  Early 

Cauld  blaws  the  wind  frae  east  to  west, 

The  drift  is  driving  sairly  ; 
Sae  loud  and  shrill  I  hear  the  blast  — 

I'm  sure  it's  winter  fairly. 

Chorus. —  Up  in  the  morning's  no  for  me. 
Up  in  the  morning  early ; 
When  a'  the  hills  are  covered  wi'  snaw, 
I'm  sure  it's  winter  fairly. 

The  birds  sit  chittering  in  the  thorn, 

A'  day  they  fare  but  sparely ; 
And  lang's  the  night  frae  e'en  to  morn  — 
I'm  sure  it's  winter  fairly. 
Up  in  the  morning's,  etc. 

Bobert  Burns. 

♦  Reprinted    by  permission  of    D.   Appleton   &  Company,   publishers    of 
Bryant's  complete  works. 


170  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


What  can  I  give  Him, 

Poor  as  I  am? 
If  I  were  a  shepherd     '^ 

I  would  bring  a  lamb ; 
If  I  were  a  wise  man, 

I  would  do  my  part, — 
Yet  what  I  can  I  give  him, 

Give  my  heart. 

From  ''A  Christmas  Carols"  Christina  O.  Boaaetti. 


My  heart  leaps  up  when  I  behold 

A  rainbow  in  the  sky : 
So  was  it  when  my  life  began ; 
So  is  it  now  I  am  a  man ; 
So  be  it  when  I  shall  grow  old. 

Or  let  me  die ! 

William  Wordsworth. 


The  Eagle 


He  clasps  the  crag  with  hooked  hands ; 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world,  he  stands. 

The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls ; 
He  watches  from  his  mountain  walls ; 
And  like  a  thunderbolt  he  falls. 

Alfred,  Lord  Tennyton. 


The  Meadow  Lark  * 

A  brave  little  bird  that  fears  not  God, 

A  voice  that  breaks  from  the  snow-wet  clod 

With  prophecy  of  sunny  sod. 

Set  thick  with  wind-waved  goldenrod. 

From  the  first  bare  clod  in  the  raw,  cold  spring. 
From  the  last  bare  clod,  when  fall  winds  sting, 
The  farm-boy  hears  his  brave  song  ring. 
And  work  for  the  time  is  a  pleasant  thing. 

Hamlin  Garland. 
♦  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  author. 


APPENDIX 

For  Pupils'  Reference 

Forms  for  Letters  and  Notes 172 

Dii'ections  for  Capitalization  .          .         .         .          .  .          .178 

Directions  for  Punctuation           .          .         .          .          .  .          181 

List  of  Abbreviations  in  Common  Use     .          .         .  .          .184 

For  Teachers  ;    Helps  and  Suggestions 

Notes  Upon  Text  of  Lessons      .          .          .         .         .  .          187 

Poems  Suitable  for  Pupils*  Reading  or  for  Class  Study  .          .211 
In  General 

Fundamental  Truths  Concerning  Language  Work      .  .          217 

Incidental  Hints  Upon  Methods  .          .          .         .  .         .217 

Specific  Suggestions        .          .         .         .         .         .  .          2T2 

School  Libraries  and  Pupils'  Reading  .....     226 


171 


[Business] 


LETTER    FORMS 


[Social] 


rro^^v^^fP/ace,  in  full 
Heading^         ^^^/ 


Name         1 

Address  V  Introduction 
Salutation  I 


Body  of  Letter 


Conclusion  \  Complimentary  Close 

J  Signatures 


Place,  in  full 
Date 

Salutation 

- 

Body 

of  Letter 

Inside  Address 

Complimentary  Close 

Superscriptions 


Name 
Street  and  Number 
City 

State 


Mrs. 

L. 

B, 

Page 
Toledo 

Oak  Knoll 

Ohio 

To  the  President 
The  White  House 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Messrs.  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. 
156  Fifth  Avenue 

New  York  City 


Mrs.  John  C.  Smith 
10  Tenth  Street 
Addressed  St.  Paul 

172 


Mrs.  L.  E.  Sloan 
100  Park  Street 
Kindness  of 
Miss  Grey 


APPENDIX  173 

LETTER   FORMS-BUSINESS 

(A.) 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  December  9,  1902. 

Pebrt  Mason  Company, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Gentlemen  : 

Enclosed  find  money  order  for  one  dollar  and  seventy-five 
cents,  for  which  amount  please  send  The  Youth's  Companion  for  one  year 
to  Fifth  Grade,  Eaton  School,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

Yours  truly, 

Fred  Greene, 
For  Fifth  Grade,  Eaton  School. 


(B) 

Minneapolis,  Minnesota, 

January  17,  1902. 
To  Dr.  Charles  M.  Jordan, 

Superintendent  of  City  Schools, 
Minneapolis. 
Sir: 

We,  the  pupils  of  the  Columbia  School,  do  hereby  respectfully 
petition  that  you  bring  before  the  Board  of  Education,  in  our  behalf,  a 
request  that  the  unused  floor  in  our  building  be  converted  into  a  gym- 
nasium for  the  use  of  pupils. 

Respectfully, 

Susie  Graham, 
George  Hunter, 
Henry  Parks, 

Committee  for  Columbia  School. 


(C) 

1125  Chestnut  St., 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
November  16,  1900. 
To  His  Excellency  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  President: 

Most  respectfully  your  obedient  servant,  [or] 

I  have  the  honor  to  subscribe  myself. 

Most  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 
John  Mapes  Brown, 
Secretary  Children's  City  Improvement  League. 


174  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

(T>)  9334  Pleasant  Avenue, 

Chicago,  Illinois, 
March  2,  1902. 
To  His  Excellency  Samuel  R.  Van  Sant, 
Oovernor  of  the  State  of  Minnesota. 
Tour  Excellency:   [or.  Sir:'] 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  obedient  servant, 

(Miss)  Ellen  E.  Day. 


(E)  2416  East  Broadway, 

Louisville,  Ky., 
May  8,  1902. 
Messrs.  James  McCutcheon  &  Company, 
New  York  City. 
Gentlemen:  ... 

Very  truly, 

Mrs.  Charles  H.  Graves. 


Louisville,  Kentucky, 
Mrs.  Frederick  Turner,  August  17,  1902. 

Pittsburg^  Pennsylvania. 
My  dear  Mrs.  Turner : 

Sincerely  yours, 
Please  address,  Kate  E.  Graves. 

Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  (Mrs.  Charles  H.   Graves.) 


Note:  ''Sir"  is  chiefly  used  in  official  correspondeuce.  '^Jfy  dear  Mr. 
Smith  "  is  a  more  formal,  hence  more  respectful,  salutation  than  "  Dear  Mr.  Smith." 
It  is  also  more  formal  to  use  one's  full  name  in  signature  than  to  use  mere  initials 
or  the  last  name  alone,  since  to  omit  the  initials  implies  closer  acquaintance  than 
not  to  do  so.  Do  not  omit  the  chief  subject  of  thought,  as  in  "  Received  your 
letter  last  night,"  "Went  home  last  week,"  etc.  To  write  "Yours,  etc."  or 
"Respt.  y'rs,"  or  to  abbreviate  any  of  the  words  of  the  salutation  or  complimen- 
tary close,  is  now  considered  rude.  Observe  the  following  forms  : 
Gentlemen:        Dear  Friend, —  Yours  truly.  Faithfully  yours, 

Dear  Sir :  My  dear  Friend, —  Very  truly  yours.       Lovingly  yours, 

My  dear  Sir :     My  dear  Miss  Smith, —    Respectfully,  Yours  very  sincerely, 

Ladies  :  Dear  Uncle  Tom, —  Very  respectfully,     Gratefully  yours, 

Madam:  My  dear  Mother, —  Cordially  yours,        Your  loving  daughter. 


APPENDIX  175 

LETTER    FORMS-SOCIAL 

(G^  \_Fersonal  Note'] 

2416  East  Broadway, 

Louisville,  Kentucky, 

January  16,  1902. 
Dear  Mrs.  Scott  : 

The  book  to  which  you  kindly  called  my  attention  a  few  weeks 
ago  has  been  read.  I  wish  to  express  my  pleasure  in  the  reading,  and 
also  my  agreement  with  your  own  estimate  of  its  value. 

Sincerely  your  friend. 
To  Mrs.  J.  L.  Scott,  Kate  E.  Graves. 

500  Drexel  Boulevard. 

[Note  the  difference  in  signature  of  the  same  person  in  Forms  E,  F,  and  G, 
and  the  change  of  address  in  Form  F.] 


(H)  \_Note  with  Oiff] 

Mrs.  Walden  presents  her  compliments  to  Miss  French,  and  begs 
her  to  accept  this  little  remembrance,  witii  best  wishes  for  the  New  Year. 
156  Dayton  Street^ 

January  first,  1902. 

(I)  [^Note  of  Excuse] 

Will  Miss  Dearborn  be  kind  enough  to  excuse  Harry  White  from 
school  at  eleven  o'clock  this  morning,  and  by  so  doing  greatly  oblige  his 
mother,  Mrs.  A.  B.  White. 
1654  Park  Street, 

Wednesday  morning. 

(J)  \^Note  of  Invitation] 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  F.  Montague  present  their  compliments  to 
Mrs.  N.  M.  Jerrold,  and  request  the  pleasure  of  her  company  on  Wednes- 
day  evening,  June  the  third,  at  eight  o'clock. 
1024  Highland  Place, 

May  the  thirtieth. 

(K)  [^Note  of  Acceptance] 

Mrs.  N.  M.  Jerrold  accepts  with  pleasure  the  invitation  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Montague  for  the  evening  of  June  the  third. 
20  Regent  Square, 

May  the  thirty-first. 


176 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


(L)  [JSTote  of  Regref] 

Mrs.  N.  M.  Jerrold  regrets  that  a  previous  engagement  will  prevent 
her  accepting  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Montague's  invitation  for  the  evening  of  June 
the  third. 
20  Regent  Square^ 

May  the  thirty-first. 


(M)  [Note  of  IntroductioTi] 

My  dear  Mr.  Smith  : 

The  bearer,  Miss  Brown,  wishes  to  obtain  more  definite  information 
relating  to  your  recent  advertisement  in  the  Times.  She  is  a  refined  and 
intelligent  young  woman,  who  may  be  relied  upon  to  do  well  any  work  she 
is  willing  to  undertake.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  introduce  her  to  your 
attention. 

Very  cordially  yours, 

Mrs.  Samuel  S.  Glover. 


(N) 


[Card  Note'] 


[Envelope] 


[Card] 


Mrs.  M.  A.  Jessup 

150  Elm  Place 


Introducing  Miss  Fay 


Mrs.  John  Clay  Dean 

Introducing 

Miss  Nellie  E.  Fay 

Preceptress  Royalton  College 


Note  :  Between  acquaintances  and  friends,  a  few  lines  upon  a  calling  card 
is  a  simple  and  suitable  method  for  many  forms  of  notes  expressing  compliment, 
congratulation,  introduction,  acknowledgment,  etc. 

The  name  of  the  State  is  often  omitted  from  the  superscription  when  not 
needed,  and  "  City"  or  "  Town"  written  instead,  this  implyin*?  that  the  letter  or 
card  does  not  go  to  another  town.  The  French  write  En  Ville  (In  Town;  to 
indicate  the  same  thing.  When  the  note  or  card  is  not  sent  thru  the  mail,  no  word 
need  be  used  referring  to  the  town.  An  old  form  still  somewhat  in  vogue  is  that 
of  the  word  "  Present,"  meaning  near  at  hand.  The  word  *'  Addressed,"  also  used, 
has  its  commercial  sense  of  being  intrusted  to  the  care  of  another.  Thus  a  super- 
scription may  read  '♦  Mr.  John  Smith,  Present,"  or  "  Mr.  John  Smith,  Addressed." 


APPENDIX  177 

A    FEW    EXAMPLES    FROM    REAL    LETTERS 

Boston,  Par]k  Street,  September  3  6,  1852. 
Dear  Sir, —  Mr.  Thomas  Baring  will  dine  with  me  on  Monday  next  at 
five  o'clock,  with  some  of  your  friends  and  his ;   and  we  shall  be  honored 
and  obliged  by  the  pleasure  of  your  comipany. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  the  greatest  respect,  yours, 

T.  W,  Ward. 
Green  Harbor,  Ma^shfield,  September  17,  1852. 
It  would  give  me  great  pleaisure,  my  dear  Mr.  Ward,  to  dine 
with  you  on  Monday,      .      .      .     but  [e^(j.]. 

Always  very  truly  yours, 

Daniel  Webster. 
3  Hanover  Terrace,  Regent's  Park, 

Monday,  Twentieth  May,  1861. 
My  dear  Bulwer-Lytton, 

I  did  not  read  from  Australia  to  the  end,  because  [e?c.]. 

Ever  faithfully, 

Charles  Dickens. 
Red  Wing,  Minnesota,  June  26,  1861. 
Mr.  S .•— 


children.] 


[Body  of  a  letter  that  should  become  familiar  to  all  Minnesota 

Yours  truly, 

Henry  D.  Thoreau. 


Friend  P- 


Castleton,  Staten  Island,  May  22,  1843. 


Yours  for  remembering  all  good  things, 

Henry  D.  Thoreau. 
Concord,  15  October,  1870. 
My  dear  Carlyle, — 

T  am  the  ignoblest  of  all  men  [e^c.]. 

Affectionately, 

R.  W.  Emerson. 
EXAMPLES    OF    ADVERTISEMENTS 

Wanted  —  A  Shetland  pony,  well-broken  For  Sale  —  One  second-band  bicycle  in 

and  gentle.      M.  641,  Journal.  good  repair,  diamond  frame,  new  tires. 

Wanted -Opportunity  to    earn    room  Call  at  10  Sixth  St.,  St.  Paul. 

and  board  while  attending  high  school,  to  Let  or  For   Sale  — One  rowboat, 

by  a  boy  of  fifteen,  accustomed  to  the  nearly  new,  at  a  bargain.     Call  at  Pier 

care  of  cows  and  horses.    Address  N.  E.  No.  1,  li&ke  Harriet. 

Allen,  Crary,  Minn.  •        *    ' 


178  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

DIRECTIONS    FOR    CAPITALIZATION 

I.     Begin  ivith  a  capital  letter  the  first  word  of  : 

1.  Every  sentence,  whether  in  the  form  of  statement,  of  ques- 

tion, or  of  exclamation. 

2.  Every  line  of  poetry. 

3.  Every  direct  quotation. 

Note  :  This  does  not  apply  to  mere  fragments  of  sentences,  or  to 
a  quotation  intioduced  by  that,  as,  whether,  or  a  similar  con- 
necting word. 

4.  Every  direct  question,  or  expression  treated  like  a  quotation, 

or  as  a  sentence  within  a  sentence. 

Note  :  Direct  quotations  and  direct  questions  are  in  the  exact 
words  of  the  author;  indirect  quotations  or  questions  may 
not  be  exactly  quoted,  and  often  begin  with  that. 

5.  Every  item  of  a  formal  list  of  numbered  particulars. 

II.     Begin  tvith  capital  letters  proper  names   of    every  sort,   and   their 
abbreviations,  including 

1.  Christian  names,  surnames,  nicknames,  and  pen-names. 

2.  Geographical,    historical,    and   local    proper    names,    when 

standing  alone,  or  immediately  following  proper  names. 

3.  All  names  applied  to  Deity. 

4.  The  Bible,  Scriptures,  and  the  books  and  parts  of  the  Bible. 

5.  Church,  when  used  as  opposed  to  the  world,  and  also  any 

individual  church  society. 

6.  Titles  of  books,  documents,  essays,  poems  and  other  writings. 

7.  Official  titles  and  titles  of  nobility  used  with  proper  names  or 

taking  the  place  of  proper  names  ;  also  all  specific  titles. 

8.  Names  of  the  days  of  the  week  and  months  of  the  year,  but 

not  of  the  seasons  unless  personified. 

9.  East,  West,  etc.,  when  referring  to  certain  regions,  but  not 

when  denoting  direction. 

10.  Words  denoting  family  relations  when  used  with  the  proper 

name  of  the  person  or  in  place  of  the  proper  name. 

11.  Names  of  things  personified. 

12.  Words  naming  note  worthy  dates,  epochs,   events,  objects, 

political  parties,  associations,  etc. 

13.  Words  derived  from  proper  names,  except  when  their  use 

has  become  general  and  no  longer  closely  associated 
with  the  originals. 

14.  The  second  parts  of  compound  words  used  as  titles. 

Note  :  In  general  begin  with  a  capital  letter  any  name  treated 
always,  or  for  the  time  being,  as  a  proper  name. 


APPENDIX  179 

III.  Write  with  capitals  I  and  0,  and  usually  the  Roman  numerals,  I,  V, 

X,  C,  D,  M. 

IV.  Capitalization  cannot  be  absolutely  governed  by  rules.     Especial 

emphasis,  or  definition,  sometimes   demands  that  a  word  be 
capitalized. 

ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CORRECT    CAPITALIZATION 

I.  1.     Every  correctly  written  sentence  illustrates  this. 

2.  See  any  poem  quoted  in  this  book. 

3.  Lincoln  said,  "Our  fathers  brought  forth  upon  this  conti- 

nent a  new  nation."  But,  Lincoln  said  that  "our 
fathers  brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new 
nation." 

4.  He  asked.  Are  you  fond  of  reading?     This  has  been  a  much- 

discussed  question.  Ought  the  United  States  to  annex 
the  Philippines? 

5.  The  list  of  rules  on  the  opposite  page,  and  of  illustrations 

on  this  page ;  also  many  other  lists  in  this  book. 

II.  1.     Abraham  Lincoln,  Honest  Abe,  The  Great  Emancipator; 

Timothy  Titcomb. 

2.  The  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Ohio  River,  Staten  Island,  Euclid 

Avenue,  State  Street,  Yale  Place,  the  State  of  Wis- 
consin, New  York  City,  Province  of  Quebec,  Cook 
County,  Lyons  Township ;  Chicago  Board  of  Trade, 
St.  Louis  City  Hall :  but.  Beyond  the  mountains,  across 
the  river,  on  this  street,  the  largest  city,  county  of 
Cook,  township  of  Lyons,  every  board  of  trade,  at  the 
city  hall.  Always  State  when  referring  to  one  of  the 
United  States. 

3.  God  ;  Christ ;  Jesus  ;  the  Father ;  the  Infinite  One  ;  the  Holy 

Spirit. 

4.  The  Psalms  ;  the  Decalog  ;  the  Old  Testament ;  the  Gospels ; 

the  Epistles. 

5.  The  Church  at  large  ;  the  First  Methodist  Church :  but,  Each 

local  church. 

6.  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin;"  the  Declaration  of  Independence; 

Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address;  Whittier's  "Barefoot 
Boy." 


180  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

7.  Mayor  Seth  Low,  the  Duke  of  York,  the  Czar  of  Russia, 

President  Roosevelt,  Doctor  Brown ;  ' '  Thank  you, 
Judge;"  "The  Colonel  will  be  here  soon;"  always 
President  when  referring  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  :  but,  The  president  of  Brownton  Bank  ;  a  king 
of  limited  power ;  many  college  presidents  ;  all  the  lords 
in  the  British  peerage. 

8.  Tuesday ;   May ;   When  Spring  smiles,  we  forget  Winter's 

frown:   but,  This  fall,  next  spring. 

9.  The  boundless  West,  the  Eastern  States,  East  Minneapolis, 

South  St.  Paul,  the  North  Side :  but.  In  eastern  New 
York,  northwestern  Minnesota. 

10.  I  had  a  letter  from  Mother;   We  had  a  visit  from  Uncle 

John  :  but,  I  saw  my  mother  ;  Is  your  uncle  at  home  ? 

11.  Oh,  Columbia,  daughter  of  liberty  ;   "When  Freedom. 

tore  the  azure  robe  of  night;"  "O  Beautiful!  my 
Country  !  "  "  Bid  Time  and  Nature  gently  spare  ;  "  the 
Father  of  Waters  ;  "  Br'er  Rabbit." 

12.  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  Washington's  Birthday,  Lord's  Day, 

New  Year's  Day,  the  Christian  Era,  the  Reformation, 
the  Revolution,  the  Civil  War ;  the  Washington  Elm, 
the  Liberty  Bell,  in  Faneuil  Hall ;  the  Conservatives, 
the  Reformers,  the  Republican  party,  the  Democratic 
party,  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  the 
Civic  Federation,  the  Union  League  Club ;  the  Union, 
the  Government  (always  when  referring  to  our  country)  : 
but,  The  third  of  May  was  the  date  set ;  A  new  era 
opened ;  that  revolution  in  government ;  the  wars  of 
the  century  ;  our  political  parties  ;  We  know  that  dem- 
ocratic principles  are  the  basis  of  a  republican  form  of 
government;  The  members  of  the  club  took  action; 
The  federation  was  recently  organized. 

13.  Christian ;  British,  Russian,  French  ;  Jeffersonian  simplicity  ; 

The  Mosaic  Decalog:  but,  A  platonic  friendship,  so- 
cratic  methods,  a  herculean  task. 

14.  Attorney-General  Olney;    Vice-President  Jones;    the  page 

headed  By-Laws :  but,  The  vice-president  of  the  bank  ; 
the  by-laws  of  the  society. 


APPENDIX  181 

DIRECTIONS    FOR    USE    OF    PUNCTUATION    MARKS 

I.      Use  a  period  : 

1.  After  every  sentence  or  expression  used  as  a  sentence,  not 

exclamatory  or  interrogative. 

2.  After  every  abbreviation  or  initial  used  as  an  abbreviation. 

II.      Use  an  interrogation  point :  ^ 

1.  After  every  question,  whether  shown  by  word,  by  phrase  or 
by  sentence. 

III.  Use  an  exclamation  point : 

1.  After  every  exclamatory  sentence  (that  is,  one  showing 
strong  feeling)  ;  and  after  every  word  or  phrase  used 
with  the  force  of  an  exclamatory  sentence. 

IV.  Use  a  comma : 

1.  To  separate  words  or  phrases  in  a  series. 

2.  To  separate  a  dii-ect  quotation,  or  expression  used  like  a 

quotation,  from  the  rest  of  the  sentence. 

3.  To  separate  a  name  used  in  address  from  the  rest  of  the 

sentence. 

4.  To  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  sentence  a  word  or  phrase 

thrown  in  out  of  the  usual  and  direct  order. 

5.  To  separate  an  explanatory  word  or  phrase  from  the  rest  of 

the  sentence. 

6.  To  separate  short,  related  sentences,  too  closely  connected 

in  meaning  to  be  treated  as  separate  sentences. 

7.  After  yes  and  no,  when  part  of  a  remark  or  reply. 

8.  In  dates  and  addresses,  to  mark  the  omission  of  connecting 

words,  such  as  in,  of,  or  at. 

9.  In  genera^,  Use  a  comma  whenever  it  will  help  the  eye  to 

see  meaning  or  the  voice  to  express  it. 

V.      Use  a  semicolon : 

1.  To  separate  the  parts  of  a  sentence  when  each  makes  a 

statement  and  these  statements  are  connected  by  for, 
but,  hence,  therefore,  yet,  etc. 

2.  After  viz.,  namely,  etc.,  when  followed  by  a  formal  illustra- 

tio;i. 

3.  To  separate  a  series  of  short  sentences  closely  related  in 

thought. 

VI.      Use  a  colon  : 

1.  In  place  of  a  semicolon  when  the  connecting  words /or,  but, 
hence,  therefore,  are  omitted. 


182  EVERYDAY  ETslGLISH 

2.  Before    a   series    of   examples,   illustrations,   or    particulars 

under  a  general  head. 

3.  Before  a  very  long  quotation,  address,  speech,  etc. 

VII.     Use  of  other  Points  usually  included  under  Marks  of  Punctuation. 

1.  Use  a  dash  to  show:  (a)  An  abrupt  break  in  the  thought; 

(b)  the  inclusion  of  something  omitted ;  (c)  the  break 
between  a  quotation  and  the  name  of  its  author  or  source. 

2.  Use  parentheses  to  show :    (a)  A  break  in   thought  less  in 

degree  than  that  shown  by  the  dash  and  greater  than 
that  shown  by  the  comma  (some  one  says  that  the 
parenthesis  has  a  confidential  air)  ;  (6)  to  enclose  let- 
ters or  figures  of  reference,  to  make  them  more  distinct 
to  the  eye. 

3.  Use  the  apostrophe  to  show  :   (a)  Omissions  of  letters  in  con- 

tractions ;  (6)  the  various  relations  with  of  discussed 
in  Chapter  XVI :  (c)  the  plural  of  letters,  of  signs,  and 
of  figures. 

4.  Use  the  hyphen  to  show :    {a)  The  break  between  syllables 

when  a  word  must  run  over  to  the  following  line  ;  (fj) 
the  parts  of  compound  words  not  yet  treated  as  single 
words ;  (c)  the  union  of  two  or  more  words  into  one 
related  phrase,  usually  descriptive. 

5.  Use   quotation   marks,   double    to   enclose    quotations,    and 

single  to  mark  a  quotation  within  a  quotation.  (In 
Great  Britain  this  usage  is  often  exactly  reversed.) 

6.  Use  brackets  to  show  something  originally  outside  the  text,  as 

an  omission,  correction  or  explanation,  usually  inserted 
by  the  editor  or  commentator. 

7.  Use  italics  to  mark:    (a)  Foreign  words  ;  (6)  a  word  spoken 

of  as  a  word  simply  and  not  used  in  its  ordinary  sense ; 

(c)  words  of  especial  emphasis  (this  not  to  lose  force 
by  over-use) . 

ILLUSTRATIONS   OF   CORRECT    PUNCTUATION 

This  century  opens  with  great  promise.     Assuredly. 
See  Vol.  I,  p.  8. 

You  are  hurt?     No? 

You  are  hurt !     No,  thank  God  ! 

One,  two,  three,  four. 

He  cried,   "Conquer,  or  die!"     I  say,  will  you  go  or  not? 
Will  you  go,  I  say. 


J.. 

X. 

2. 

II. 

1. 

III. 

1. 

IV. 

1. 

2. 

APPENDIX  183 

3.  You  may  go,  Tom.    Tom,  you  may  go.    You,  Tom,  may  go. 

4.  He  stood,  by  special  request,  near  his  employer. 

5.  A  diurnal,  or  journal,  is  a  diary. 

6.  "I  came,  I  saw,  I  conquered." 

7.  Yes,  sir,  I  will  come.     No,  I  did  not  see  it. 

Note  :  Yes  and  no  may  be  followed  by  any  mark,  according  to  the 
way  ill  which  they  are  used;  as,  No!  never!  Yes?  You  are 
coming?     No ;  nevertheless  it  passed. 

8.  [At]    24   Race    Street   [in],  Boston   [in],  Mass.    [on].   May 

6  [of  the  year],  1902. 

V.      1.     It  rains  ;  therefore  we  will  not  go. 

2.  I  found  three  kinds,  namely  ;  violets,  anemones,  and  hepaticas. 

3.  She  began  the  work  on  that  day ;   on  the  next  day  she  did 

half  of  it;  on  the  third,  a  small  part;   and  finally,  on  the 
fourth  day,  it  was  finished. 

VI.     1.     It  rains  :  we  will  not  go. 

2.  Directions  I,  II,  and  III  are  examples  of  this. 

3.  See  quotation  from  "A  Christmas  Carol,"  in  Chapter  XVI. 

Note  :  In  considering  how  to  punctuate,  four  pauses  alone  are  really 
involved:  (1)  The  period  or  full  stop  (replaced  as  needed  by 
question  or  exclamation  mark)  ;  (2)  the  colon,  marking  a  less 
division  in  thought;  (3)  the  semicolon,  a  still  less  division;  and 
(4)  the  comma,  marking  the  least  separation  of  all.  "  In 
ancient  writing  the  words  were  at  first  run  together  continu- 
ously ;  afterward  they  were  separated  by  spaces,  and  sometimes 
by  dots  or  other  marks,  which  were  made  to  serve  some  of  the 
purposes  of  modern  punctuation.  .  .  .  Open  punctuation, 
characterized  by  the  avoidance  of  all  pointing  not  clearly  re- 
quired by  the  construction,  now  prevails  in  the  best  English 
usage.  In  some  cases,  as  in  certain  legal  papers,  title-pages, 
etc.,  punctuation  is  wholly  omitted." —  Century  Dictionary. 

VII.      1.      (a)    He   said   that no,    I    am   mistaken.      (6)    A k, 

1 10.      (c)  See  quotation  last  above  given. 

2.  (a)  I  read  a  story  book   ("Little  Women")  which  I  liked. 

(b)  See  examples  on  this  page. 

3.  See  Chapter  XVI  for  examples. 

4.  (a)    Find   examples    of    this    in   any   book,      (b)   Blue-eyed, 

wind-swept,      (c)  The  never-to-be-forgotten  day. 

Note  :  Dictionaries  syllabicate,  some  according  to  derivation,  and 
others  according  to  pronunciation. 

5.  She  writes  as  follows  :  "  I  am  here,  and  have  told  Mother,  '  You 

shall  now  go  to  visit  Ruth,'  which  pleases  her  greatly." 


184 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


6.  '*If  you  love  me   [this  is   from  a  letter  by  Thomas   Jeffer- 

son] then  strive  to  be  good." 

7.  (a)  Anno  Domini  means  "In  the    year  of    our  Lord."     {h) 

The  word  clear  describes  the  day.      (c)  This  task  must 
be  done  now. 

Note  :  For  further  illustrations,  study  the  punctuation  of  this  and 
of  other  books,  observing  with  care  the  use  of  the  best  modern 
writers.  Punctuation  is  not  wholly  j^overned  by  rules;  and 
good  writers  and  authorities  differ  somewhat  upon  minor  .points, 
tho  not  upon  the  most  general. 


LIST   OF   ABBREVIATIONS 


A. 

America ;  Answer 

bbl.,  bbls. 

barrel,  barrels 

(also  ans.) 

B.  C. 

Before  Christ; 

a.  {ad) 

at,  or  to 

British  Columbia 

A.B.,  orB.  A. 

Bachelor  of  Arts 

bu.,  bus. 

bushel;  bushels 

ace,  or  acct. 

account 

Cal. 

California 

A.D.  {Anno 

In  the  year  of  our 

Capt. 

Captain 

Domini) 

Lord 

cent,  (centum) 

a  hundred 

Agt. 

Agent 

Co. 

Company;  County 

Ala. 

Alabama 

C.O.D. 

Cash    (or   collect) 

Alas. 

Alaska 

on  delivery 

Aid. 

Alderman 

Col. 

Colonel;  Colorado 

Alt. 

Altitude 

(also  Colo.) 

A.M. 

Master  of  Arts ; 

Conn. 

Connecticut    (also 

{Ante  Meridiem) 

Ct.) 

Before  Noon 

Cor.  Sec. 

Corresponding 

amt. 

amount 

Secretary 

Anon 

Anonymous 

Cr. 

Credit;  Creditor 

Ap.,  Apl.  or 

April 

ct.,  cts. 

cent,  cents 

Apr. 

D.  C. 

District  of  Colum- 

Ariz. 

Arizona 

bia 

Ark. 

Arkansas 

D.D. 

Doctor  of  Divinity 

Assn. 

Association 

Dec. 

December 

Asst. 

Assistant 

Del 

Delaware 

Atty. 

Attorney 

do.  {ditto) 

the  same 

Aug. 

August 

doz. 

dozen,  dozens 

A.V.    , 

Authorized  Ver- 

Dr. 

Debtor;  Doctor 

sion 

E. 

East 

Av.,  or  Ave. 

Avenue 

e.g.  (exempli 

for  example 

B.  A. 

British  America 

gratia) 

APPENDIX 

185 

Esq. 

Esquire 

M.  C. 

Member  of  Con- 

et al. 

and  others 

gress 

etc.  {et  cetera) 

and  so  forth 

M.  D. 

Doctor  of  Medi- 

Ex. 

Example 

cine 

F.,  orFahr. 

Fahrenheit 

Md. 

Maryland 

Feb. 

February 

mdse.  ^ 

merchandise 

Fla. 

Florida 

Me. 

Maine 

f.o.b. 

free  on  board 

Messrs.,orMM 

. 

Fri. 

Friday 

{Messieurs) 

Gentlemen;  Sirs 

Ft. 

Fort 

Mfg. 

Manufacturing 

ft. 

foot,  feet 

Mich. 

Michigan 

gal.,  gals. 

gallon,  gallons 

Minn. 

Minnesota 

Ga. 

Georgia 

Misc. 

Miscellaneous, 

Gen. 

General 

Miscellany 

Gov. 

Governor 

Miss. 

Mississippi 

Hon. 

Honorable 

Mile. 

Mademoiselle 

la. 

Iowa 

Mme. 

Madame 

Ihid(Ibidem) 

In  the  same  place 

Mo. 

Missouri 

Id.  (Idem) 

The  same 

Mon. 

Monday 

I.,  or  Ida. 

Idaho 

Mont. 

Montana 

i.  Q.  {id  est) 

that  is 

M.P. 

Member  of  Parlia- 

111., or  Ills. 

Illinois 

ment 

in. 

inch,  inches 

Mr. 

Mister  (Master) 

Ind. 

Indiana 

Mrs. 

Mistress  (as  an  ab- 

Ind. T. 

Indian  Tenitory 

breviation. 

inst. 

instant  (the  pres- 

pronounced 

ent  month 

Missis) 

Jan. 

January 

ms.,  mss. 

manuscript,  manu- 

Jr., or  Jun. 

Junior 

scripts 

Kan.,  or  Kans. 

Kansas 

Mt.,  Mts. 

Mountain,    Moun- 

Ken., or  Ky. 

Kentucky 

tains 

La. 

Louisiana 

N. 

North 

lb.,  lbs. 

pound,  pounds 

N.  A. 

North  America 

L.  I. 

Long  Island 

N.  B.  {Nota 

Note  WeU,or  Take 

Lieut.,  or  Lt. 

Lieutenant 

Bene) 

Notice 

LL.D. 

Doctor  of  Laws 

N.  C. 

North  Carolina 

M. 

Monsieur;  Mer- 

N. Dak. 

North  Dakota 

idian  (3fer- 

N.  E. 

Northeast 

idies) ,  Noon 

Neb.,  Nebr. 

Nebraska 

Maj. 

Major 

Nev. 

Nevada 

Mar.,  or  Mch. 

March 

N.  H. 

New  Hampshire 

Mass. 

Massachusetts 

N.J. 

New  Jersey 

186 


EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 


N.  Mex. 

New  Mexico 

S.  E. 

Southeast 

No.,  Nos. 

Number,  Numbers 

Sec. 

Secretary 

Nov. 

November 

Sep.,  or  Sept. 

September 

N.  W. 

Northwest 

sq. 

square 

N.  Y. 

New  York 

Sr.,  or  Sen. 

Senior 

0. 

Ohio 

St. 

Street;  Saint 

Oct. 

October 

Ste.  {Sainte) 

For  feminine 

Okla. 

Oklahoma 

form  of  Saint 

Ore.,  or  Oreg. 

Oregon 

Stet. ,  or  St. 

Let  it  stand 

oz.,  ozs. 

ounce,  ounces 

Sun. 

Sunday 

p.,  pp. 

page,  pages 

Supt. 

Superintendent 

Pa.,  or  Penn. 

Pennsylvania 

S.  W. 

Southwest 

per   cent  {jper 

by  the  hundred 

Tenn. 

Tennessee 

centum) 

Tex. 

Texas 

Ph.D. 

Doctor  of  Phil- 

Thurs. 

Thursday 

osophy 

Tp. 

Township 

pk.,  pks. 

peck,  pecks 

Tues. 

Tuesday 

P.M. 

Postmaster ;  After- 

ult. (ultimo) 

of  the  last  month 

noon    (Post 

U.S. 

United  States 

Meridiem) 

U.  S.  A. 

United    States    of 

P.  0. 

Post  office 

America ; 

Pres. 

President 

United  States 

Prof. 

Professor 

Army 

pro  tern,  {pro  tern 

I-  for  the  time  being 

U.  S.  M. 

United  States  Mail 

pore) 

U.  S.  N. 

United  States 

^TO-SL.  {proximo) 

of  the  next  month 

Navy 

P.S.  {post- 

Postscript 

u.  s.  s. 

United  States  Ship 

scriptum) 

(or  Steamer) 

pt.,  pts. 

pint,  pints 

Ut. 

Utah 

Q. 

Question 

V.  or  vs. 

against 

qt.,  qts. 

quart,  quarts 

(versus) 

Reed. 

Received 

Va. 

Virginia 

Rec.  Sec. 

Recording  Secre- 

viz. (videlicet) 

namely,  to- wit 

tary 

Vol.,  vols. 

Volume,  volumes 

Rev. 

Reverend 

Vt. 

Vermont 

R.  I. 

Rhode  Island 

W. 

West 

R.  R.,  Ry. 

Railroad,  Railway 

Wash. 

Washington 

s. 

South 

Wed. 

Wednesday 

S.  A. 

South  America 

Wis. 

Wisconsin 

Sat. 

Saturday 

W.  Va. 

West  Virginia 

s.  c. 

South  Carolina 

Wyo. 

Wyoming 

S.  Dak. 

South  Dakota 

yd.,  yds. 

yard,  yards 

FOE  TEACHERS:   HELPS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

NOTES   UPON   TEXT   OF   LESSONS 

Chapter  I.  Page  1.  See  the  recent  valuable  contributions  to  this 
subject  by  Professor  Harlow  Gale,  of  the  department  of  psychology  in 
the  University  of  Minnesota.  In  his  *' Psychological  Studies,  No.  I" 
(p.  103),  he  says:  "To  test  our  judgment  of  our  children's  being  only 
about  the  average  in  their  use  of  words,  we  took  the  opportunity  of  fol- 
lowing a  reputedly  talkative  child,  Carl  Andrist  (whose  father  was  in- 
structor in  French  in  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  whose  mother  had 
been  a  kindergartner) ,  during  his  second  birthday.  The  child's  reputa- 
tion was  most  astonishingly  sustained  by  his  using  805  different  words 
and  10,507  words  altogether.'* 

See  in  particular,  for  an  interesting  and  enlightening  discussion  of 
this  subject,  ''Children's  Vocabularies,"  by  Mrs.  M.  C.  Gale  and 
Professor  Harlow  Gale,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly^  May,  1902. 

P.  2.  See  also  "Viola  Olerich,  the  Baby  Scholar,"  by  Professor 
Henry  Olerich  (Laird  &  Lee,  Chicago) . 

Gesture  language  is  substantially  the  same  the  world  over,  and  of 
this  general  language  each  system  is  one  dialect.  The  Indians  of  the 
West  and  the  deaf-mutes  of  New  York  say  by  gestures  in  the  same 
manner,  "Where  are  you  going?  "  and  "  I  am  going  away  on  horseback." 
The  American  deaf-mute,  ignorant  of  French,  may  go  to  Paris  and 
"converse"  there,  thru  the  gesture  language  common  to  both,  with  the 
French  deaf-mute  who  is  ignorant  of  English. 

P.  2.  On  the  vocabularies  of  educated  adults,  of  children,  and  of 
savages,  see  a  letter  (written  to  Professor  Harlow  Gale,  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota)  by  Miss  Milicent  W.  Shinn,  in  Child-Study  Monthly  and 
Journal  of  Adolescence,  April,  1901. 

P.  3.  The  evolution  of  language  is  fully  treated  in  "Mental  Evolu- 
tion in  Man,"  by  George  John  Romanes;  see  Chapter  V,  "Language," 

187 


188  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

and  Chapter  VI,  "Tone  and  Gesture."  See  also  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
''Ants,  Bees,  and  Wasps;  "  also  "The  Speech  of  Monkeys,"  Part  I,  by 
R.  L.  Garner.  See  "  The  General  Ideas  of  Infants  and  Deaf-Mutes,"  by 
Professor  Ribot,  in  Open  Court,  March,  1899. 

P.  6.  From  the  New  York  Sun,  February,  1902  :  "When  Prince 
Henry  visits  the  White  House  he  will  hear  for  the  first  time  a  German 
student  song  sung  by  a  parrot.  President  Roosevelt  recently  became  the 
owner  of  a  parrot  that  commands  a  vocabulary  of  over  a  hundred  words. 
She  is  the  only  parrot,  probably,  that  can  spell  its  own  name.  Polly  cost 
the  man  who  presented  her  to  the  President  just  $500.  Five  years  ago 
she  was  brought  as  an  infant  from  Africa  to  Madeira.'* 

Chapter  II.  P.  8.  The  cipher  code  employed  for  private  tele- 
graphing  is  a  most  interesting  and  useful  device  for  business  purposes. 
An  order  to  buy  one  hundred  shares  of  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy 
stock  would  read  "Abruptly,  Disgusting,  Ballast."  An  order  to  buy 
10,000  bushels  of  wheat  for  May  would  read  "Abaft,  Absolutely,  Blighted." 
Here  are  other  illustrations  : 

Alum  stands  for  Low  grade  spring  extra  flour 

Amuse  stands  for  Dressed  hogs  averaging  less  than  200  lbs. 

Amen  stands  for  Flour  equal  to  New  York  extra  state 

Amiss  stands  for  Good  baker's  flour  from  spring  wheat 

Antagonist  stands  for  Prime  kettle-rendered  lard 

Satire  stands  for  Sell  according  to  your  judgment 

Trigger  stands  for  Should  wet  weather  continue  the  harvest  will  be  very  late 

Unclean  stands  for  Heavy  rain  in  this  section  of  the  country 

Many  business  houses  employ  cipher  codes  of  their  own  and  secret 
cipher  codes  are  often  used. 

P.  10.  Teachers  of  the  deaf  consider  baby- talk  extremely  pernici- 
ous, because  delaying  proper  pronunciation,  and,  what  is  still  more  im- 
portant, the  correct  formation  of  sentences.  In  the  fact  that  nearly  one- 
half  the  whole  number  of  deaf-mutes  lose  their  hearing  thru  the  diseases 
of  childhood,  we  see  a  great  additional  reason  for  the  early  teaching  of 
correct  pronunciation  and  of  sentence  formation. 

Chapter  III.     Mark  H.  Liddell  says,  "Language  is  the  machinery 


APPENDIX  189 

with  which  we  think."  See  his  series  of  valuable  articles  upon  language 
in  the  Atlantic  Monthly^  1898. 

Deaf-mutes  who  have  not  been  instructed  in  exact  methods  of  speech 
continue  to  speak  like  young  children.  Thus  they  say,  *'  Horse  —  black 
—  canter  "  and  ' '  Hungry  —  me  —  bread  —  give." 

The  education  of  Laura  Bridgeman,  a  blind  girl,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Howe, 
a  Boston  philanthropist,  had  prepared  the  way  for  the  work  done  for 
Helen  Keller.  Her  teacher.  Miss  Annie  M.  Sullivan,  who  had  herself 
been  blind  for  a  number  of  years,  subsequently  regaining  her  sight, 
came  from  the  very  institution  where  Laura  Bridgeman  had  been  educated. 
Before  taking  up  her  new  and  apparently  impossible  task,  she  fitted  her- 
self especially  for  the  work.  See  "  Helen  Keller,  a  Psychological  Study,'* 
by  Rev.  J.  T.  McFarland,  D.  D.  This  pamphlet  is  published  by  the 
Volta  Bureau,  Washington  City,  D.  C.  See  also  *'  Helen  Keller  Souve- 
nir No.  2,  1892-1899,"  published  by  the  same. 

Three  very  beautiful  poems  written  to  Helen  Keller  may  well  be  read 
here:  "Helen  Keller,"  by  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman;  "Of  One  Who 
Neither  Sees  Nor  Hears,"  by  Richard  Watson  Gilder;  "Where  Helen 
Sits,"  by  Laura  E.  Richards.  (For  these,  see  Stedman' s  "American 
Anthology."  See  also  a  series  of  articles  by  Miss  Keller  in  the  Ladies* 
Home  Journal^  beginning  in  April,  1902.) 

A  popular  magazine  says  :  ' '  She  [Helen  Keller]  is  the  most  interest- 
ing human  being  in  the  world  from  the  psychologist's  view-point.  She 
comes  near  to  giving  a  definite  answer  to  the  old  question,  how  much  of 
us  comes  from  within  and  how  much  from  without." 

For  an  interesting  account  of  the  education  of  another  blind  deaf- 
mute,  see  "  Helen  Keller  and  Tommy  Stringer,"  in  St.  Nicholas, 
October,  1897. 

In  view  of  the  mai-vellous  results  accomplished  by  Helen  Keller,  who 
was  given  books  printed  in  raised  letters,  even  before  she  could  read  them, 
Professor  Alexander  Graham  Bell  says  :  "I  would  have  a  deaf  child  read 
books  in  order  to  learn  the  language,  instead  of  learning  the  language  in 
order  to  read  books."     If  a  deaf  child,  why  not  a  hearing  child? 

Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale  says,  in  Outlook,  April  5,  1902:  "lean- 
not  recollect  any  moment  of  my  life  when  I  could  not  read  as  well  as  I 


190  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

can  now.  I  may  say,  in  passing,  that  Guest,  the  Cherokee  Cadmus, 
taught  a  boy  to  read  in  a  day,  and  speaks  as  if  two  or  three  days  were 
always  quite  sufficient  for  the  business.  Helen  Keller,  who  was  certainly 
badly  handicapped,  learned  to  read  and  write  and  spell  in  less  than  four 
months  ;  and  has  never,  I  think,  made  a  mistake  in  spelling  in  twelve 
years  since.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  we  generally  make  a  great  deal 
too  much  fuss  about  learning  to  read." 

Chafer  IV.  P.  21.  The  German  Emperor  has  recently  directed 
that  the  teaching  of  English  in  the  high  schools  of  his  empire  be  made 
compulsory.  The  illogical,  haphazard  spelling  of  English  is  the  greatest 
drawback  to  its  acquirement  by  foreigners. 

Travelers  report  that  ' '  English  is  the  only  language  with  which  they 
can  make  shift  to  get  along  everywhere,  and  that  even  the  Arabs  not 
infrequently  employ  English  epithets  in  driving  their  camels." 

P.  21.  Is  it  an  advantage  to  he  horn  to  speak  a  simple  and  easy  lan- 
guage? Madame  Ottilie  Caspari,  a  German  lady  residing  in  America, 
teacher  of  foreign  languages,  says  that  "  rather  is  it  an  advantage  to  be  born 
to  speak  a  difficult  language ;  because,  the  mind  having  been  once  trained 
to  a  difficult  system,  other  languages  can  be  easily  acquired.  The  edu- 
cated Russians  are  the  best  linguists  living,  because  their  own  tongue  is 
the  most  difficult,  German  ranking  second  in  difficulty,  and  Japanese  being 
very  easy."  These  statements  explain,  in  part,  at  least,  why  English- 
speaking  people  do  not  readily  acquire  a  speaking  knowledge  of  other 
tongues,  but  instead  force  their  own  simple  language  upon  all  the  peoples 
of  the  earth.  We  have  here  then  a  debatable  question,  which  children 
may  be  encouraged  to  think  about  and  discuss. 

P.  23.  If  the  extract  from  Roger  Ascham  be  copied  upon  board  or 
paper  with  modern  spelling,  it  will  not  seem  difficult.  Or  if  it  be  read 
aloud  slowly  and  with  good  expression,  it  will  tell  its  own  simple  and 
thrilling  story. 

While  correlation  as  such  has  no  place  here,  yet  a  few  words  to 
pupils  will  not  be  amiss  relating  to  this  unfortunate  princess,  whose 
gentle  and  noble  spirit,  plainly  shown  in  the  extract  given,  can  never  fail 
to  awaken  admiration  and  pity. 


APPENDIX  191 

Copying  is  a  very  valuable  exercise  indeed.  Not  everything  needs  to  be 
copied ;  but  many  of  the  selections  which  have  been  chosen  for  memorizing ; 
proverbs,  .  .  .  fables  and  the  like  may  well  be  copied.  .  .  .  How  can  a 
child  whose  mental  images  of  words  and  of  the  forms  of  language  are  indistinct, 
confused  and  fragmentary,  be  expected  to  use  this  language  with  an  adequate 
degree  of  correctness? 

Maximilian  F.  E.  Qroszmann,  in    Child-Study 
Monthly,  December,  1898. 

See*' The  English  of  the  English,"  by  Brander  Matthews,  in  '*  Parts  of 
Speech;"  also  to  be  found  in  Harper's,  August,  1901. 

Chafer  V.  P.  28.  The  New  York  Evening  Post  of  June  22,  1901, 
haa  the  following : 

In  the  year  1387  Christianity  first  became  widespread  in  Poland,  and  great 
numbers  of  men  and  women  were  baptized  at  one  time.  To  simplify  and  expedite 
matters  with  so  large  a  concourse,  it  became  the  custom  of  the  officiating  clergy 
to  bestow  the  same  name  upon  whole  batches  of  people  who  came  to  be  admitted 
into  the  church.  At  one  baptism,  for  example,  the  name  Peter  was  conferred 
upon  all  the  men  and  Catherine  upon  all  the  women.  On  another  occasion  they 
would  all  be  Pauls  and  Margarets,  and  so  on.  .  .  .  The  corruption  of  the  "  ap" 
has  led  to  a  number  of  common  modifications  of  old  Welsh  names,  as  Price  for 
ap-Rhys,  Pritchard  for  ap-Richard,  Powell  for  ap-Howell ;  and  many  others,  Pro- 
bert,  Probyn,  Pugh,  Penry,  as  also  —  the  "  b  "  being  similar  to  the  "  p  "  —  Bevan, 
Barry,  and  the  like.  .  .  .  The  termination  "  ing"  among  Teutonic  people  sig- 
nified "  oflspring."  Browning  and  Whiting  in  this  way  would  mean  the  dark  and 
the  fair  children. 

P.  28.  Among  common  endings  in  Scandinavian  names  is  quist,  a 
twig.  Thus  Lindquist  is  equivalent  to  linden  twig.  So  also  we  have 
berg,  a  mountain ;  holm,  a  hill,  or  an  island. 

A  British  scientific  association  has  recently  examined  the  color  of 
hair  and  eyes  found  in  connection  with  the  fifty  most  common  surnames  in 
East  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland.  A  test  of  nearly  15,000  children  shows 
that  the  darkest  hair  and  eyes  belong  to  the  surnames  common  in  fishing 
communities.  This  verifies  the  tradition  that  the  population  of  East 
Scotland  is  of  Belgian  origin.  Certain  surnames  have  strong  blonde  ten- 
dencies ;  others  most  often  show  dark  hair ;  others  still,  red  hair. 

P.  32.  Exercise  IV.  Washington  Irving  wished  New  York  city  to 
take  its  good  old  Indian  name,  Manhattan;  New  York  State,  the  name 


192  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Ontario;  the  Hudson  River,  the  Mohegan;  and  the  United  States,  Appa- 
lachia.  Certainly  it  is  a  great  pity  that  the  melodious  Indian  names  should 
not  be  retained  wherever  possible.  New  This  and  New  Tliat  indicate  a 
poverty  of  name  materials.  Green  Lake  in  Wisconsin  might  far  better 
have  kept  the  beautiful  Techora  of  the  Indians,  which  has  the  same  signifi- 
cation. Superior  is  a  good  Latin  word,  but  Gitchee  Gumee  is  more  poetic 
and  musical,  and  also  full  of  history,  of  romance,  and  of  literary  associa- 
tions. The  names  Owatonna,  Winona,  Mendota,  Minnehaha,  are  full  of 
music.  Many  of  our  States  are  rich  in  Indian  names  and  their  equiva- 
lents. The  next  best  substitute  for  the  original  Indian  name  is  the 
English  translation ;  as  Crow  Wing,  Red  Wing,  Sleepy  Eye,  Good  Thun- 
der, Otter  Tail,  Yellow  Medicine,  White  Bear.  The  commonplace  names 
which  fill  our  railway  guides  are  a  discouraging  evidence  of  lack  of  good 
taste,  or  even  of  a  very  depraved  taste.  Every  child  who  studies  this 
subject  should  be  urged  to  give  his  own  influence  thruout  life  toward  the 
conferring  of  place  names  that  are  in  themselves  suitable,  musical,  and 
distinctive.  May  we  not  hope  that  in  the  future  some  of  the  Indian 
names  may  be  restored  to  their  own?  See  "Poetry  of  Place  Names,"  by 
Brander  Matthews,  in  "Parts  of  Speech." 

It  is  unfortunate  that  neither  the  Century,  the  Standard,  nor  the 
Webster's  International  Dictionary  recognizes  the  existence  of  our  Ameri- 
can Indian  names  as  such.  For  this  exercise,  pupils  and  teacher  must 
glean  from  all  sources  available  and  compile  for  permanent  school  use  as 
complete  a  list  as  possible  of  our  Indian  names  and  their  equivalents. 

See  "London's  Queer  Street  Names,"  Current  Literature,  March,  1901; 
"Names  of  Places,"  Blackwood's,  April,  1900;  "  Street  Names  and  Shop  Signs  of 
Old  London,"  Catholic  World,  February,  1900. 

Chapters  V  and  VI.  Pp.  27-39.  For  a  delightful  article  see  "Sur- 
names and  Christian,"  in  the  Chautauquan  for  September,  1900.  See 
also  "English  Surnames,"  Uving  Age,  July  27,  1901. 

Note  :  Bound  volumes  of  the  standard  magazines  yield  valuable  reference 
material  for  every  department  of  language  work.  By  consulting  Poole's  Index, 
under  the  heads  Language,  English,  Word*,  Names,  etc.,  many  other  interesting 
articles  may  be  fouiid. 


APPENDIX  193 

Chapter  VI.  P.  33.  If  the  teacher  will  read  aloud  to  class  the 
little  poem,  ''Their  Nicknames,"  in  St.  Nicholas  for  January,  1898,  the 
pupils  will  enjoy  supplying  the  missing  names. 

P.  34.  The  name  Charlemagne  should  at  once  recall  that  great  ruler 
of  the  far  east,  to  whose  reign  the  "Arabian  Nights  Tales"  ascribe  every- 
thing of  especial  wonder  and  renown.  Haroun  al  Raschid,  the  famous 
caliph  of  Bagdad,  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Charlemagne,  and  sent  him 
many  valuable  presents,  including  parrots  and  monkeys,  a  clock,  and 
other  oriental  curiosities.  Charlemagne  and  Haroun  died  within  six 
years  of  each  other.  These  two  kings  preceded  Alfred  the  Great  of  Eng- 
land by  only  one  hundred  years ;  and  all  three  names  mark  epochs  in  the 
world's  history.  In  Exercise  III  the  pupil  may,  if  he  likes,  include  any- 
thing he  finds  of  interest  concerning  the  great  ones  who  have  borne  his 
own  name. 

Few  things  in  history  are  more  interesting  than  that  wave  of  exces- 
sive piety  which  made  our  Puritan  forefathers  believe  that  given  names 
should  indicate  a  religious  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  parent  or  of  the  child. 
Hence  for  a  time  quaint  and  inconvenient  names  of  most  unmusical  make- 
up were  freely  given  to  many  inoffensive  babies  who  could  offer  no  pro- 
test against  the  imposition  of  the  ridiculous  appellations.  In  the  poem 
called  "Little  Puritans,"  in  St,  Nicholas  for  December,  1901,  the  follow- 
ing "names  of  grace"  are  mentioned:  Peace,  Wait,  Gift,  Love,  Meek, 
Trust,  Earth,  Dust,  Mercy,  Silence,  Modest,  Discreet,  Righteous,  Rejoice, 
Plenty,  Decline,  Welcome,  Thankful,  Willing,  Resign,  Lowly,  Refrain, 
Ashes,  Lament,  Content,  Weep-not,  Preserved,  Approved,  Elected, 
Wrestle,  Reviled,  Consider,  Charity,  Obedience,  Humility,  Repine-not, 
Magnify,  Sin-deny,  Hope-on-high,  Strive-again,  Hate-evil,  More-trial, 
Deliverance,  Faint-not,  God-reward,  No-merit,  Fly-temptation,  True- 
repentance,  SoiTy-for-sin,  Zeal-of-the-land,  Cleanse-mine-heart,  Fight- 
the-good-fight-of-faith,  and  Through-much- tribulation-we-enter-into-the- 
kingdom-of -heaven.  If  possible,  let  the  poem  referred  to  be  read  aloud 
to  the  class,  and  a  typewritten  copy  be  added  to  the  scrapbook  upon  the 
reading  table. 

In  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth  in  England,  one  Puritan  leader  was 
called  Praisegod  Barebones  (Barbon  or  Barebone),  and  the  story  has  also 


194  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

been  related  that  he  had  two  brothers  called  respectively  Christ-came- 
into-the-world-to-save  Barebones  and  If-Christ-had-not-died-thou-hadst- 
been-damned  Barebones,  the  latter  commonly  abbreviated  to  "  Damned." 
That  this  remarkable  story  is  historically  true  is  by  no  means  sure. 

Assist  pupils  if  possible  to  find  out  the  meaning  of  every  Indian 
name  mentioned  in  Mrs.  Sigoumey's  poem.  Remember  that  Virginia  is 
a  Latin  name. 

Chapter  VII.  P.  41.  Remember  that  capitalization,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  will  vary  with  every  writer  of  English.  Some  of  Carlyle's 
pages  look  almost  as  if  he  had  dropped  a  handful  of  initial  capitals  at 
random,  so  emphatic  does  he  seem  to  feel  every  name  used.  After 
observing  the  rules  upon  which  usage  is  now  practically  uniform,  one  has 
still  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  names  he  himself  uses  are  individual 
names  or  class  names.  The  term  proper,  from  proprius,  peculiar  to  one 
only,  is  less  self-explanatory  than  individual,  to  which  it  is  equivalent; 
and  the  term  co^nmon  is  less  desirable  than  class  (name),  because  mis- 
leading from  its  use  also  in  the  sense  of  usual  or  ordinary.  We  get  both 
uses  of  common  in  the  expressions,  A  commonplace-hook  should  not  be 
commonplace;  and  A  common  name  may  be  a  very  uncommon  word. 

The  appellatives  sir,  madam,  miss,  laddie,  lass,  dear,  darling,  etc., 
are  seldom  written  with  capitals,  because  these  are  used  rather  as  terms 
of  respect  or  of  endearment  than  as  substitutes  for  proper  names. 

P.  43.  Folklore  includes  everything  of  tradition  that  has  become  an 
integral  part  of  the  common  life  and  thought,  living  at  first  by  word  of 
mouth,  and  at  last  creeping  into  written  speech.  Folklore  often  has  its 
original  foundation  in  actual  events.  Thus,  in  Mother  Goose,  Old  King 
Cole,  King  Arthur,  and  half  a  dozen  other  characters  have  survived  from 
early  English  history. 

Folklore  of  the  American  Indians  forms  the  theme  of  Longfellow's 
"  Song  of  Hiawatha."  A  school  scrapbook  compiled  from  the  shorter 
poems  of  American  and  English  authors,  upon  the  subject  of  American 
Indian  folklore,  would  be  a  valuable  addition  to  the  reading  table.  In 
such  a  scrapbook  should  be  found  without  fail  "A  Chippewa  Legend," 
by  James  Russell  Lowell;  "Monument  Mountain,"  "An  Indian  Girl's 
Lament,"  "The  White-footed  Deer,"  and  "A  Legend  of  the  Delawares," 


APPENDIX  195 

by  Waiiam  CuUen  Bryant.  Bryant's  poems  are  peculiarly  rich  in  Ameri- 
can folklore,  and  other  examples  can  be  found  in  every  American  poet. 

If  time  should  permit  here  the  spending  of  a  day  or  two  in  enjoying 
American  folklore,  it  would  be  well  to  divide  the  class  into  sections, 
assigning  a  single  poet  to  each  section  for  examination,  a  report  to  be 
made  at  some  future  date  as  to  the  folklore  tales  discovered  and  approved 
by  each  section.  Complete  editions  of  our  standard  poets  should  be 
available  in  every  school  library.  After  a  program  of  folklore  poems, 
children  may  be  encouraged  to  express  their  own  taste  as  to  the  more  or 
less  pleasing  qualities  of  the  various  selections  given. 

In  case  pupils  show  a  lively  interest  in  the  subject  of  folklore,  it  will 
be  well  to  keep  in  mind  for  future  study  Irving's  *'  Legend  of  Sleepy 
Hollow"  and  '*Rip  Van  Winkle;"  Cowper's  "Boadicea;"  Burns'  *'Tam 
o*  Shanter;"  Goethe's  "  Erl  King;"  Mrs.  Hemans'  '* Pocahontas;" 
Scott's  '*Allan-a-Dale,"  ''Young  Lochinvar,"  and  "Jock  of  Hazeldean" 
(the  three  telling  a  single  tale)  ;  Kingsley's  ''  Sands  of  Dee;"  Browning's 
"Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin;"  and  others.  Lanier's  "The  Boys*  King 
Arthur"  should  be  familiar  to  all  children.  In  fact,  folklore  furnishes  the 
motive  for  probably  the  greater  part  of  our  poetry.  Witness  Tennyson's 
"Idylls  of  the  King,"  and  William  Morris'  "Sigurd  the  Volsung  "  and 
"  The  Volsungs."  For  an  outline,  which  teachers  may  well  follow  in  part 
for  their  own  study,  as  suggestive,  see  "  Readings  in  Folk-Lore,"  by 
Hubert  M.  Skinner  (American  Book  Company). 

Chapter  VIII.  P.  45.  Children  will  enjoy  hearing  read  aloud  the 
verses,  "A  Dilemma,"  in  St.  Nicholas  for  December,  1901. 

P.  48.  Exercise  I.  Observe  in  discussion  such  facts  as  the  follow- 
ing: The  words  hench^  settle^  settee^  lounge^  couch,  divan,  t^te-a-tite,  each 
carries  its  own  idea  and  each  differs  specifically  from  the  general  term, 
seat,  and  from  the  still  more  general  term,  furniture. 

Chapters  VIII  and  IX  (Pp.  45-55).  These  chapters  aim  to 
widen  the  pupil's  vocabulary.  Every  new  word  possessed,  together  with 
a  definite  mind  picture  of  the  concrete  object,  means  a  gain  in  practical 
knowledge.  Definitions  are  only  a  second-hand  method  of  gaining  infor- 
mation.    Narrow  oral  vocabularies  really  account  very  largely  for  slow- 


196  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

ness  in  learning  to  read  on  the  part  of  foreign-born  children  and  of  those 
from  illiterate  homes.  The  solution  of  the  problem  will  be  found  partly 
in  a  very  large  amount  of  reading  aloud  to  primary  pupils  by  their  teachers, 
with  short  explanations  of  unfamiliar  words.  In  the  letter  cited  under 
Chapter  I,  Miss  Shinn  says;  ''I  have,  in  teaching  school,  been  struck  by 
the  enormous  inferiority  in  vocabulary  of  great  high  school  boys,  almost 
men,  from  ignorant  families,  as  compared  to  little  children  in  bookish 
families.  Substituting  lately  in  a  high  school,  I  found  a  class  in  its  third 
high  school  year  —  farmer  boys  of  good  sense  —  floored  in  so  simple  a 
poem  as  ''The  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  line  after  line,  by  sheer  ignorance  of 
the  meaning  of  words  which  my  nine-year-old  niece  readily  understood. 
In  the  district  schools  the  teacher  often  fails  to  suspect  to  what  an  extent 
great  fifteen-year-old  boys  (from  English-speaking  homes)  are  simply 
blocked  in  progress  by  almost  incredible  ignorance  of  the  meaning  of 
simple  words  used  by  her,  and  by  the  textbook, —  so  I  have  discovered,  in 
teaching.  It  is  not  an  argument  for  babyfying  our  speech  and  books  still 
more  (or  they  will  never  acquire  the  English  language) ,  but  for  increasing 
greatly  the  reading  of  good  standard  stories,  learning  standard  poetry, 
etc.,  in  the  lowest  grades." 

Chapter  IX.  P.  52.  Word  games  are  usually  enjoyed  by  children. 
One,  which  is  founded  upon  the  spelling  lessons,  consists  merely  in  giving 
antonyms,  or  synonyms,  as  required,  of  words  pronounced  by  the  teacher. 
For  this  exercise,  most  spelling  books  have  lists  that  can  be  used.  This 
game  can  be  used  as  a  "  spelling  down"  exercise  if  desired. 

A  game  children  like  is  "My  Alphabetical  Friend."  The  teacher 
begins:  "I  have  an  alphabetical  friend.  Her  first  name  is  Anna." 
(Class  in  turn  quickly  give  Alice,  Ada,  Amy.)  Teacher:  "  Her  surname 
Is  Arnold"  (class  in  turn  give  "Aldrich,"  "Abbott,"  "Austin"). 
Teacher:  "She  is  artless"  (class  give  "  artistic ""  amiable  ") ,  "and 
never  angry"  (class  give  "  arrogant,"  "artful") .  "  She  eats  apples"  (class 
name  "  artichokes,"  "asparagus"),  "  and  lives  in  Appleton"  (class  name 
"Aurora,"  "Alton,"  "Austin").  "  She  studies  art"  (class  name  authors 
or  subjects  beginning  with  A).  Till  interest  flags,  the  guessing  may  go 
on  with  B,  O,  Z>,  taking  up  the  game  each  day  where  it  had  been  left  off 
the  day  before.     This  game  makes  also  an  interesting  written  exercise. 


APPENDIX  197 

All  word  games,  such,  for  example,  as  "Logomachy,**  quicken  the 
mind  and  give  pleasure.  Similarly,  a  word  like  Constantinople  msiy  be 
given,  and  a  test  made  as  to  the  number  of  words  that  can  be  made  from 
its  letters  in  five  minutes  by  each  pupil.  It  is  not  expected,  of  course, 
that  games,  however  interesting,  take  the  place  of  regular  recitations. 

P.  55.     Exercise  II.     A  study  of  the  parts  and  materials  of  objects 

is  in  harmony  with  the  child's  natural  impulses.     ''  Mrs.  Dickey,  librarian 

of  the  Chicago  Normal  School,  says  that  boys  from  twelve  to  fourteen  are 

*  constant  readers  '  of  the  Scientific  American.     This  ought  to  be  a  pointer 

to  those  who  are  looking  for  '  something  to  read.*     When  a  boy  reaches 

this  age  he  begins  to  seek  means  of  expression  through  the  constructive 

impulse  —  he  loves  to  make  things.     Give  an  old  clock  to  a  boy  who  has 

failed  to  respond  to  pedagogical  orthodoxy ;  let  him  take  it  apart  and  put 

it  together  again.     Follow  that  with  an  old  sewing-machine  or  something 

similar." 

Editorial  in  Child-Study  Monthly,  April,  1901. 

If  time  permits,  a  day  or  two  should  be  given  here  to  Longfellow's 
noble  poem,  *'  The  Building  of  the  Ship.'*  After  such  study,  attention 
may  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  beauty  and  perfection  of  the  poem 
depend  to  a  considerable  extent  upon  the  poet's  knowledge  of  the  parts 
and  materials  of  a  ship. 

Chapter  X.  P.  60.  The  name  Philomel  should  recall  Longfellow's 
**  Santa  Filomena,"  written  in  honor  of  Florence  Nightingale.  In  car- 
rying out  this  happy  thought,  he  made  use  of  the  Italian  legend  of  a  Saint 
Filomena,  revered  for  deeds  of  mercy  and  healing.  The  coincidence  is 
rather  remarkable,  and  no  less  so  is  the  fact  of  its  use  by  the  poet.  The 
Latin  for  nightingale  is  philomela.  The  modem  Italian,  derived  from 
Latin,  uses  /  where  Latin  used  ph. 

P.  64.  Exercises.  Since  a  good  lullaby  must  appeal  to  the  ear  by 
its  musical  quality,  it  will  be  helpful  to  have  a  program  of  lullabies  read 
aloud,  the  class  deciding  by  vote  as  to  the  most  musical. 

P.  64.  Observe  the  still  prevalent  Scottish  pronunciation  which 
rimes  early  with  fairly^  and  Charley  with  both.  This  pronunciation  has  a 
weird  sound  to  unaccustomed  ears.     If  possible,  find  some  one  who  can 


198  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

read  aloud  good  broad  Scotch  to  the  class,  and  let  the  class  afterward 
discuss  its  more  common  characteristics,  trying  to  reproduce  it  as  accu- 
rately as  may  be.  The  rolled  or  trilled  r,  called  the  bur,  is  apt  to  be 
strongly  marked.     Observe  here  the  poem  by  Burns,  page  r69. 

The  sound  of  a  marked  d  (or  e)  by  Webster,  a  by  the  Century,  and 
^  by  the  Standard  Dictionary  was  the  sound  most  often  given  to  long  a 
two  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  a  compound  sound,  concerning  which 
orthoepists  do  not  wholly  agree. 

Chapter  XI.  P.  67.  The  chief  requisite,  in  original  composition, 
first,  last,  and  all  the  time,  is  spontaneity.  Most  children  brought  up 
normally  will,  without  the  least  suggestion  from  others,  voluntarily  write 
little  letters,  accounts  of  events,  and  descriptions  of  people.  But  these 
same  children,  if  coerced,  may  produce  little  or  nothing. 

Almost  inevitably,  girls  write  longer  and  easier  letters,  on  the  whole, 
than  do  boys.  But  boys  usually  seize  upon  more  salient  features  and 
excel  in  conciseness  and  directness  of  statement. 

P.  71.  This  work  as  planned  looks  toward  historical  narration  on 
Monday,  characterization  on  Tuesday,  description  on  Wednesday,  narra- 
tion on  Thursday,  and  explanation  or  discussion  on  Friday.  Of  these, 
description  is  by  far  the  most'  difficult,  if  any  degree  of  excellence  be 
attained.  Without  doubt,  nearly  all  attempted  descriptions  will  be  at 
first  mere  enumeration  of  evident  features.  This,  however,  will  lead 
toward  the  desired  end. 

The  first  page  of  the  letter  diary  should  have  merely  the  name, 
grade,  school,  location,  and  State  of  the  pupil,  with  the  name  of  the 
teacher  or  teachers.  With  blue  pencil  or  red  ink  merely  underline  mis- 
pelled  words  and  wrong  capitalization.  In  margin  or  at  the  end  write 
a  word  of  comment,  in  commendation  if  possible.  If  a  sentence  is  badly 
arranged,  enclose  it  in  short,  double  vertical  lines,  |j  ||  ,  and  put  ?  in  the 
margin.  Make  little  adverse  criticism  so  long  as  there  is  honest  effort 
and  gradual  improvement.  Children  should  be  encouraged  to  take  pride 
in  regaining  their  papers  unmarred  by  marks  of  error  or  of  criticism^ 
Praise  is  the  best  whip.  Teach  your  pupils  to  make  a  pencilled  outline 
at  the  very  start,  and  to  keep  to  this  outline  in  writing.  More  than  one 
day  may  be  needed  at  times  to  carry  out  an  acceptable  outline.     Permit 


APPENDIX  199 

free  access  to  dictionary ;  or,  if  convenient,  spell  any  word  upon  board,  as 
asked  for.  There  is  no  absolute  advantage  in  looking  up  the  spelling  of 
a  word  in  the  dictionary,  while  there  is  actually  a  great  loss  of  time  to 
young  children  who  still  have  much  to  learn  in  English  spelling. 

No  per  cent  marks  should  emphasize  false  standards.  It  would  be 
absurd  to  wish  for  or  to  expect  uniformity  of  result.  The  same  amount 
of  time  employed  by  all  will  bring  forth  fruit  according  to  the  mental  soil, 
"  some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  an  hundred  fold." 

P.  71.  It  may  seem  desirable  to  spend  a  few  days  in  class  reading 
from  ''Robinson  Crusoe"  or  from  "The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,"  be- 
fore beginning  the  letter  diary. 

P.  72.  To  introduce  one's  self  and  one's  home  to  the  diary,  in 
beginning,  will  add  to  its  interest,  and  to  its  coherence  as  a  whole,  altho 
perhaps  not  a  very  natural  or  customary  plan. 

It  is  not  probable  that  attention  to  sentence  structure  need  often  be 
considered  in  connection  with  the  letter  diary.  So  long  as  children  write 
freely  of  their  own  interests,  they  will  almost  surely  make  short  and  con- 
cise statements.  If  in  exceptional  cases  there  be  a  tendency  to  long  and 
involved  sentences,  ask  the  pupil  to  break  these  up  into  single  statements. 
Style ^  that  most  desirable  of  all  literary  qualities,  should  grow  unconsci- 
ously and  express  individuality,  the  very  thing  that  will  be  lost  at  once  if 
the  pupil  begins  to  write  with  self-conscious  attention  to  the  manner  of 
forming  his  sentences.  It  is  now  believed  by  some  of  our  best  modern 
teachers  of  English  that  the  teacher's  blue  pencil  has  ruined  the  style  of 
many  a  pupil.  Adverse  criticism  tends  at  once  to  repress,  and  is  never 
known  to  stimulate. 

The  English  teacher  may,  and  usually  must,  make  his  composition  work 
periodic.  The  intervals  may  be  short  for  the  poor  writers,  and  longer  for  the 
good  ones.  There  is  no  need  of  treating  all  alike.  Uniformity,  a  curse  every- 
where in  the  education  of  youth,  is  peculiarly  baneful  in  composition.  The  youth 
who  most  needs  your  aid  should  have  it  most.  He  who  writes  with  painful  diffi- 
culty should  write  every  day  —  keep  a  diary,  perhaps.  .  .  .  The  ambition 
governing  the  class  should  be,  as  regards  matter,  to  interest  an  audience,  and  as 
regards  form,  to  have  the  composition  in  shape  to  print  without  correction.  The 
audience  to  be  pleased  and  instructed  is  of  course  the  class,  or  the  school ;  and 
young  people's  interests  are  the  ones  to  be  kept  in  view.    ...    In  censuring 


200  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

compositions,  private  talk  with  the  individual  goes  infinitely  further  than  repri- 
mand before  a  class.  Personal  matters  are  not  properly  treated  in  public,  and 
one's  writing  is  a  personal  matter.  You  cannot  impress  a  point  upon  a  pupil  as  a 
delicate  matter  if  you  speak  of  it  in  public.  .  .  .  The  private  interview,  by  its 
very  nature,  suggests  delicacy,  reticence,  importance.  The  public  reproof  mini- 
mizes the  fault :  the  private  conference  enhances  its  impressiveness. 

Samuel  Thurber  in  '  *  Some  of  the  Main  Prin- 
ciples of  Secondary  Englith  Teaching." 

Children  should  be  encouraged  to  write  only  of  what  they  have  themselves 
experienced,  either  in  the  world  of  reality,  or  emotionally.  They  should  be  led  to 
express  themselves  —  their  own  knowledge,  their  thoughts,  their  own  feelings,  be 
they  ever  so  crude  and  simple ;  and  not  second-hand  thoughts  and  emotions  to 
make  a  false  show.  When  once  the  child  knows  that  nothing  but  his  own  self  is 
wanted  and  appreciated,  his-language  will  flow  without  restraint. 

Maximilian  P.  E.  Groszmann,  in  Child-Study 
Monthly,  February,  1899. 

See  ''  Men  Who  Have  Kept  a  Diary,"  in  Blackwood's,  January,  1899. 

Chapter  XII.  P.  79.  For  examples  of  a  "Norman  sculptured 
portal,"  obtain  photographs  of  the  famous  Norman  stairway  or  porch,  or 
of  the  baptistery  arches,  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  England.  This  style 
of  decoration  is  also  beautifully  shown  in  the  "  triple  arch"  in  the  rear 
of  St.  Cross  Church,  Winchester,  England. 

P.  81.  Exercises.  A  schoolroom  anthology  of  Christmas  carols, 
hymns  and  other  poems  of  the  holiday  time,  prepared  by  the  pupils, 
would  constitute  a  valuable  supplementary  volume  for  the  reading  table. 
Pupils  whose  proficiency  in  script  is  beyond  question  may  copy  these 
poems  upon  the  school  typewriter.  By  using  self-binders,  new  pages  can 
be  added  at  any  time,  a  new  index  inserted,  or  other  changes  made,  and 
by  using  carbon  papers,  duplicates  can  be  made  for  exchange  with  other 
rooms  or  classes. 

The  habit  of  noting  new  words  with  their  definitions  can  not  be 
urged  too  strongly.  Two  new  words  for  each  school  day  means  a  gain  in 
vocabulary  of  about  four  hundred  words  during  the  school  year.  The 
child  who  keeps  his  definition  book  with  care  will  not  be  confined  to  a 
repertoire  of  slang  speech  when  he  leaves  school ;  and  the  little  dictionary 
of  new  words  made  by  one's  self  is  a  possession  of  permanent  value. 


APPENDIX  201 

Pupils  would  enjoy  hearing  about  the  chief  features  of  the  feudal 
system,  hinted  at  in  the  poem  just  studied.  Any  good  history  for  high 
school  use  will  explain  these ;  or  consult  ''  Historical  Readings"  (For  Use 
of  Teachers'  Reading  Circles)  by  Henry  E.  Shepherd;  American  Book 
Company. 

P.  81.  The  miscellaneous  portion  of  the  wordbooks  referred  to  in 
Exercise  I  might  not  inaptly  be  termed  ''Notes  and  Quotes,"  following 
the  excellent  early  use  of  the  word  quote  in  the  sense  of  a  quotation. 
Here  usage  has  dropped  a  short  desirable  form  and  has  retained  a  less 
desirable  longer  one.     See  dictionary  under  quote. 

Chapter  XIII.  P.  83.  Altho  the  typewriter  has  displaced  the  pen 
for  almost  all  business  correspondence,  yet  it  is  not  considered  in  good 
taste  to  write  letters  of  courtesy  by  means  of  the  machine.  People  of 
wealth  may  hire  an  amanuensis,  but  others  must  write  good,  legible  script. 
The  thou  and  /  which  form  the  greatest  charm  of  the  personal  letter 
usually  seem  to  disappear  when  a  third  party  comes  between,  clicking  the 
cold  keys  of  a  machine.  A  letter  written  by  one's  own  hand  is  always 
more  complimentary  than  one  that  is  typewritten. 

Jane  Welsh  Carlyle  said,  ''A  letter  behoves  to  tell  about  one's 
self." 

Chapter  XIV.  P.  93.  All  works  of  reference,  as  dictionaries, 
directories,  gazetteers,  catalogues,  must  employ  abbreviations,  in  order  to 
reduce  bulk  for  handling  and  space  to  be  examined  in  consulting.  But 
the  devices  necessary  for  economizing  space  in  reference  books  afford  no 
authority  for  similar  short  cuts  in  connected  discourse. 

P.  94.  To  sign  a  letter  "  Y'rs  truly,"  '' Respt.  yours,"  ''Y'rs, 
etc.,"  is  the  reverse  of  respectful,  because  it  indicates  an  unwillingness  to 
make  the  effort  needed  for  writing  in  full.  The  abuse  of  abbreviations 
today  in  newspaper  headlines  is  considered  by  scholarly  persons  a  great 
and  serious  menace  to  good  English.  These  are  unnecessary,  inartistic, 
and  harmful  by  way  of  example.  Different  wording,  or  slightly  smaller 
type,  without  abbreviations,  would  be  far  more  pleasing. 

P.  95.  Contractions  of  pre- titles  are  less  offensive  to  the  eye  than 
are  abbreviations.     Perhaps  this  is  because  the  mind  must  then  think  the 


202  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

vocal  word  in  full.  Thus  Gen'l  Grant,  Sup't  Parker,  Capt'n  Gray,  Prof  r 
Brown,  Pres't  Roosevelt,  all  imply  the  full  forms.  Hence,  if  one  will  not 
write  in  full,  contractions  are  the  more  respectful  of  the  two,  altho  some- 
what old-fashioned.  Formerly,  signatures  were  commonly  written  in  this 
way ;  Sam'l,  Wm,  Rich'd,  Rob't,  Ja's. 

Chapter  XV.  P.  101.  The  pleasant  task  of  collecting  beautiful 
word  pictures  is  deferred  until  Chapters  XXI  and  XXII  for  reasons  which 
will  then  become  obvious. 

P.  106.  ''The  dull  thunder  of  alternate  flails,"  because  two  men, 
standing  opposite,  formerly  alternated  their  strokes,  each  striking  with  his 
own  flail  as  the  other  flail  was  thrown  back ;  the  grain  on  the  barn  floor 
being  thus  slowly  threshed  out. 

P.  108.  A  picture  of  the  three  Fates  should  be  shown  the  children, 
Michael  Angelo's  or  Paul  Thumann's  or  some  other,  and  they  should  all 
memorize  Lowell's  lines : 

Spin,  spin,  Clotho,  spin! 

Lachesis,  twist!  and  Atropos,  sever! 
Darkness  is  strong,  and  so  is  Sin, 

But  only  God  endures  forever. 

From  '*  Villa  Franca.*' 

The  Perry  pictures  at  one  cent  each  will  answer  the  purpose  of 
illustration  in  case  better  prints  can  not  be  afforded. 

In  case  the  meaning  of  any  line  in  this  poem  is  not  absolutely  clear 
to  pupils  or  to  teacher,  let  all  agree  to  dwell  upon  the  line  in  thought. 
Discuss  in  class  all  interpretations  offered  and  let  the  one  that  seems 
most  probable  be  accepted,  until  another  still  better  is  suggested. 

P.  109.  It  would  be  well  after  studying  Chapter  XV  for  pupils  to 
lay  aside  textbooks  for  a  few  weeks  —  except  for  necessary  reference  in 
the  wordbook  studies,  which  should  continue  —  and  for  as  long  as  possible 
to  read  poems,  with  especial  attention  to  their  word  pictures.  A  list  of 
poems  follows  these  notes,  any  or  all  of  which  may  be  studied  to  advan- 
tage for  narration  or  for  word  pictures.  To  ask  pupils  to  suggest  their 
own  favorite  poems  for  class  study  is  often  advisable.  In  order  to  sug- 
gest they  must  do  the  valuable  preliminary  work  of  comparing  and  judging. 


APPENDIX  208 

To  be  able  to  exercise  individual  taste  is  in  itself  one  end  of  all  language 
study.  Hence,  merely  to  handle  a  volume  of  poems,  hunting  thru  them 
for  one  that  is  really  to  be  preferred  to  the  others,  is  highly  educative  to 
adult  or  to  child.  Similarly,  to  request  that  each  pupil  be  ready,  by  the 
end  of  the  year,  to  name  his  own  favorite  poet,  giving  reasons  for  his 
preference,  will  stimulate  to  earnest  interest. 

Chapter  XVI.  P.  113.  Altho  most  recent  textbooks  condemn  the 
form  "he  don't,"  they  omit  to  state  that  this  form  is  not  incorrect  his- 
torically, at  least ;  and  our  older  teachers  say  that  this  condemnation  was 
not  known  by  themselves  during  youth.  Murray's  great  dictionary,  not 
yet  completed,  the  latest  and  fullest  authority  obtainable  upon  English 
use,  says:  "The  original  northern  form  'does'  superseded  the  'doth  — 
doeth'  in  the  16th-17th  century  in  general  use,  the  latter  being  now  lit- 
urgical and  poetical.  The  form  'he  do'  is  now  s.  w.  dialect."  Murray 
cites  two  examples  of  the  use  of  "  he  don't : "  1741,  Richardson,  "Pamela," 
I.  65,  "He  don't  know  you;  "  and  1831,  Fonblanque,  "England  Under 
Seven  Administrations,"  II.  100,  "  God  don't  suffer  them  now."  No 
examples  of  "he  doesn't"  are  cited  by  Murray,  which  is  a  matter  for 
regret  to  those  interested. 

The  novelist  Thackeray  uses  "he  don't"  and  "he  doesn't"  on  the 
same  page;  Lincoln  in  the  debates  with  Douglas  used  "he  don't." 
Dickens  and  Mother  Goose  both  make  constant  use  of  the  form ;  altho 
neither  of  the  latter  can  claim  English  so  good  that  we  may  cite  their  use 
as  authority  for  today. 

Nevertheless  it  must  be  remembered  that  a  long  list  of  our  best 
scholars  insist  that  we  should  now  say  "  he  doesn't,"  irrespective  of  usage 
in  the  past;  and  these  hold  that  "  he  don't"  always  smacks  of  the  vulgar 
and  illiterate.  Since  this  list  includes  the  great  majority  of  modem 
authorities,  none  need  be  named. 

Opposed  to  these  are  a  small  but  very  strong  minority  who  insist  that 
the  shorter  form  is  the  better  in  itself,  because  simpler  and  more  direct, 
and  in  accord  with  the  genius  of  our  language.  Professor  Brander 
Matthews,  of  Columbia  University,  one  of  our  best  known  authorities 
upon  language,  states  his  belief  that  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to  drive  out 
of  common  use  a  form  that  has  become  so  strongly  entrenched  as  has 


204  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

"  he  don't.*'  Dr.  James  K.  Hosmer,  the  well-known  author,  whose  his- 
torical works  are  counted  among  modern  classics,  says  that  the  use  of 
"he  don't"  by  Samuel  Richardson  in  "Pamela"  and  in  "Sir  Charles 
Grandison  "  is  sufficient  authority  for  its  use  today ;  and  adds  that  the 
shorter  and  more  direct  form  is  in  itself  the  better,  because  more  con- 
venient. Richard  Grant  White  (in  his  "  Every-Day  English,"  p.  420) 
says,  "  *  He  don't'  doesn't  grieve  me  as  it  grieves  my  correspondents." 

There  is,  however,  another  equally  probable  explanation  for  the 
prevalence  of  this  expression.  The  English  language  has  from  the  first 
tended  to  drop  the  many  endings  — called  "  inflections  " — which  in  Latin 
and  similar  languages  mark  gender,  case,  voice,  mood,  tense,  person, 
number,  and  degrees  of  comparison.  We  now  have  left  in  English  only 
a  very  few  inflections,  and  our  verb  is  uniform  for  all  persons,  except  in 
the  indicative  present,  third  person  singular.  Probably  the  printing-press 
is  responsible  today  for  this  exception.     Thus  we  say 


I 

\   can't,  won't,  sha'n't 

1 

Exception 

you 

/ 

I 

1 

to  uniformity 

he 

>  mayn't,  couldn't,  wouldn't. 

you 

\  don't 

he  doesn't 

we 

I 

we 

they 

j   shouldn't,  musn't,  oughtn't 

they 

Thus,  by  habit  and  also  by  analogy,  people  tend  naturally  to  say  "he 
don't"  rather  than  "  he  doesn't." 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  "he  don't"  is  an  interesting  example 
of  the  survival,  chiefly  in  oral  speech,  of  an  older  form  side  by  side  with 
a  newer  form  that  is  perhaps  destined  to  take  its  place.  This  is  a  matter 
that  time  and  popular  usage  will  decide.  Fair  discussion  will  do  more  to 
arouse  an  intelligent  desire  to  adopt  the  better  form  of  the  two  (if  that 
point  be  once  settled)  than  any  amount  of  dogmatic  statement. 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  superiority  of  English  today  lies  in  the 
very  fact  that  it  has  continually  dropped  useless  inflectional  changes. 
Hence,  to  insist  upon  the  universal  adoption  of  "he  doesn't"  may  quite 
possibly  be  an  attempt  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  language.  The 
best  literary  usage  at  present  doubtless  indorses  "he  doesn't;"  neverthe- 
less, if  both  forms  are  actually  permissible,  the  time  is  past  for  anyone 
to  be  dogmatic  in  regard  to  either. 


APPENDIX  205 

P.  115.  With  regard  to  the  omission  of  s  after  the  apostrophe,  per- 
haps a  uniform  and  convenient  method  might  be  found  by  adding  the 
apostrophe  alone  to  such  names  as,  on  account  of  length  or  otherwise, 
would  not,  agreeably  to  the  ear,  take  an  extra  syllable ;  as  James*, 
Mbses\  goodness\  etc.  :  but  lasses,  crosses,  Besses. 

Chapter  XVII.  P.  118.  The  following  is  quoted  from  the  Wis- 
consin Journal  of  Education  : 

Doctor  Gladstone  found  that  an  Italian  child  of  nine  will  read  and  spell  as 
correctly  as  an  English  child  at  thirteen,  altho  the  Italian  child  starts  two  years 
later  than  the  English  child.  ...  A  high  authority  estimates  the  average 
French  boy  of  sixteen  to  be  two  years  in  advance  of  the  American  boy  of  the 
same  age.     .     .     . 

Science  of  language  is  only  a  few  years  old,  yet  the  governments  of  Germany, 
France,  Italy,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway,  have  all  reformed  their 
language  as  printed  and  written.  The  English  and  the  Chinese-speaking  races 
alone  keep  up  the  barriers  to  turn  back  and  discourage  foreigners  who  would  learn 
their  tongue.     .     .     . 

There  is  now  but  one  opinion  among  philologists  concerning  the  existing 
English  orthography.  This  opinion  is  well  expressed  by  Professor  Lounsbury  in 
these  words:  "There  is  certainly  nothing  more  contemptible  than  our  present 
spelling,  unless  it  be  the  reasons  usually  given  for  clinging  to  it.  This  spelling  is 
also  as  much  opposed  to  utility  and  common  sense  as  it  is  to  linguistic  science ;  for 
it  is  easily  shown  to  be  a  serious  obstruction  to  education  and  to  civilization, 
wasting  and  worse  than  wasting  the  time  of  our  children  in  the  schools,  needlessly 
increasing  the  cost  of  all  printed  matter,  thus  making  the  distribution  of  know- 
ledge more  costly  and  doing  more  than  all  other  agencies  combined  to  hinder  the 
spread  of  English  as  the  language  of  the  commercial  loorld,  by  making  most  difficult 
its  acquisition  by  the  foreigner.  In  brief,  no  rational  defense  of  it  can,  on  any 
ground  be  made, —  scholarly  opinion  is  unanimous." 

The  Century  Dictionary,  1896,  Vol.  6,  preface  to  list  of  amended  spellings, 
gives  the  following :  "All  English-speaking  etymologists  are  in  favor  of  the  cor- 
rection of  English  spelling,  both  on  etymological  grounds  and  on  the  higher  ground 
of  the  great  service  it  will  render  to  national  education,  international  intercourse, 
and  trade.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  no  competent  scholar  who  has  really  ex- 
amined the  question  has  come,  or  could  come,  to  a  different  conclusion." 

If  we  accept  these  statements,  we  must  conclude  that  it  is  not  the 
scholars,  but  the  rank  and  file  of  the  less  informed,  who  fear  and  hinder 
the  simplification  of  our  spelling. 


206  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Professor  Lounsbury  also  says  : 

It  was  not  until  after  the  publication  of  Dr.  Johnson's  dictionary,  in  1766, 
that  the  existing  spelling  can  be  said  to  have  become  universally  received.  That 
given  by  him  to  words  has  been  the  one  generally  followed  by  all  later  writers. 
.  .  .  Worse  than  all,  a  deference  has  sprung  up  for  our  present  spelling  which 
is  not  justified  by  anything  in  its  character.  Orthography  was  a  matter  about 
which  Johnson  was  totally  incompetent  to  decide.  Yet,  largely  in  consequence  of 
the  respect  and  even  reverence  still  paid  to  that  which  he  saw  fit  to  employ,  the 
spelling  of  English  continues  to  be  probably  the  most  vicious  to  be  found  in  any 
cultivated  tongue  that  ever  existed.  With  a  number  of  sounds  for  the  same  sign, 
and  again  with  a  number  of  signs  for  the  same  sound,  it  is  in  no  sense  a  guide  to 
pronunciation,  which  is  its  only  proper  office.  Even  for  derivation  —  an  oflice  for 
which  it  was  never  designed  —  it  is  almost  equally  worthless,  save  in  the  case  of 
words  of  direct  Latin  origin.     ('•  The  English  Language,"  p.  181.) 

Murray's  great  dictionary  is  our  latest  and  best  authority,  up  to  the 
point  which  it  has  reached  in  course  of  publication.  However,  it  will  be 
too  expensive  for  small  schools,  and  is  designed  for  the  mature  student 
rather  than  for  the  child. 

The  Standard  Dictionary  is  not  too  expensive  to  be  within  the  reach 
of  every  school,  and  it  should  be  provided  for  every  building,  at  the  least. 
On  the  whole  it  is  perhaps  the  most  desirable  dictionary  now  available 
for  ordinary  school  use,  altho  devoting  small  space  to  etymology.  Its 
placing  of  etymology  after  definition  and  citations  is  an  improvement  in 
order,  and  the  pages  upon  niceties  of  usage  should  be  thoroly  studied 
by  every  teacher  and  then  brought  by  her  to  her  pupils,  both  by  precept 
and  by  example.  The  listing  of  disputed  pronunciations  is  also  helpful. 
Remember  that  it  is  the  business  of  a  dictionary  merely  to  report  upon 
usage  and  to  pronounce  in  matters  of  taste. 

P.  123.  A  study  of  the  ^ough  words  reveals  many  interesting  facts. 
Thus  sloughy  a  quagmire,  is  also  spelled  slue^  slew,  sloo;  while  in  Middle 
English  it  was  slou. 

Hough  (pronounced  how,  and  obsolete  in  this  sense)  appears  in 
simpler  dress,  meaning  hill,  in  Fox  How,  Silver  How,  etc. 

Shough  was  formerly  pronounced  shoo  or  shock,  according  to  its 
meaning.  Thus  shough  (shock)  meant  a  shaggy  dog,  and  also  a  mass  of 
tangled  Jtiair;  while  shough  (shoo)   was  an  exclamation  used  in  driving 


APPENDIX  207 

away  fowls.     Now  the  dictionaries  include  the  *ough  spelling,  but  indorse 
the  two  simple  and  reasonable  forms. 

See  ''  Language  Affected  by  Our  New  Political  Relations,"  in  Education,  Feb- 
ruary, 1901;  «*The  Spelling  of  English,"  in  International  Magazine,  July,  1901; 
"Simplification  of  English  Spelling,"  by  Brander  Matthews,  in  the  Century, 
August,  1901 ;  and  articles  on  "  The  Making  of  Murray's  Dictionary,"  in  the  Living 
^ye,  April  15,  1899,  Good  Words,  March,  1899,  and  the  Eclectic  Magazine,  May,  1899. 

Chapter  XVIII.  P.  124.  Bouse  also  may  be  used  as  a  causative 
of  rise;  bleach^  also,  is  really  a  causative  of  blanch  and  of  blench. 

Chapter  XIX.  P.  128.  Wol  and  wil  were  interchangeable  forms 
until  the  fifteenth  century.  The  contraction  of  wol  not  resulted  in  the 
tvon't  which  we  still  use  colloquially.  (The  I  went  into  could  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  from  a  mistaken  idea  that  could  should  be  spelled  like 
would  and  should.) 

To  quote  again  from  Professor  Lounsbury's  ''  English  Language  :" 

In  the  sixteenth  century  a  delicate  distinction  in  the  use  of  the  auxiliaries 
shall  and  will  began  to  be  prevalent.  It  is  not  rigidly  observed  in  our  version  of 
the  Bible,  and  variations  from  the  present  use  are  found  in  writers  of  the 
Elizabethan  period,  such  as  Bacon  and  Shakspeare,  though  more  frequently  with 
the  preterites  would  and  should  than  with  the  present  tenses  of  these  verbs.  In 
the  seventeenth  century  the  distinction  between  the  two  verbs  became  firmly 
established  ;  though  this  statement  is  strictly  true  only  of  England,  and  not  of  the 
English  spoken  in  Scotland  or  Ireland.  Immigration,  has,  to  a  great  extent, 
broken  down  the  distinction  in  the  United  States,  especially  in  certain  portions : 
the  Irish  do  not  know  it,  and  the  Germans  do  not  acquire  it  (p.  433). 

See  "  Shall  and  Will,"  by  Robert  Barr,  in  the  Bookman,  December,  1895;  and 
a  reply  to  the  same,  by  Dr.  Richard  Burton,  in  the  Bookman,  February,  1896. 

Chapter  XX.  P.  138.  The  latest  dictionaries  report  the  colloquial 
use  of  aggravate  for  irritate.  This  is  not  an  indorsement  and  should  not 
be  so  considered.  Such  use  is  to  be  strongly  discouraged,  even  tho  it  be 
found  in  a  very  few  instances  upon  the  pages  of  rather  good  users  of 
language. 

P.  141.  Raise  for  rise  occurs  frequently  in  newspapers  and  in 
conversation.  Newspapers  often  speak  of  *'a  raise  in  wages,"  etc. 
The    new   Webster's   International    does   not  give   this   use,   while   the 


208  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Standard  and  the  Century  give  it  as  colloquial.  So  long  as  we  have  the 
word  rise  already  in  use  as  a  substantive,  we  do  not  need  raise  as  its 
synonym.  However,  usage  must  determine  whether  one  or  both  shall  be 
finally  indorsed. 

P.  142.  Stop  for  stay  is  often  called  a  Briticism,  as  it  is  a  blunder 
prevalent  chiefly  in  Great  Britain. 

This  and  that  should  be  used  to  point  out  definitely,  not  to  show 
degree,  as  they  seem  to  do  in  tJiis  much  and  that  much.  By  misusing 
words,  we  lose  chiefly  the  power  to  express  delicate  shades  of  meaning. 
It  is  not  blunders  in  grammatical  correctness  that  all  persons  need  most 
to  guard  against,  but  the  misuse  of  words  in  the  niceties  of  their  mean- 
ings.    A  vulgarism  usually  "parses"  perfectly. 

P.  147.  The  following  verbs  are  usually  followed  by  words  descrip- 
tive of  the  subject  rather  than  by  words  indicating  manner  of  action  (see 
Whitney's  **  Essentials  of  English  Grammar,"  p.  353:) 

1.  be; 

2.  become,  grow,  get,  turn,  and  the  like; 

3.  remain,  continue,  stay,  and  the  like; 

4.  seem,  appear,  look,  and  the  like; 

5.  sound,  smell,  feel,  and  the  like; 

6.  stand,  go,  move,  and  the  like. 

No  subject  is  fraught  with  more  pitfalls  for  the  unwary  than  that  of 
"  errors"  of  speech.  As  regards  usage,  only  the  dicta  of  known  scholars 
can  be  accepted.  Here  is  what  an  acknowledged  authority  says  of  the 
matter : 

Within  certain  limits,  the  speech  Is  always  moving  away  from  established 
usage.  The  history  of  language  is  the  history  of  corruptions.  The  purest  of 
speakers  uses  every  day,  with  perfect  propriety,  words  and  forms  which,  looked 
at  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  past,  are  improper,  if  not  scandalous.  But  the 
blunders  of  one  age  become  good  usage  in  the  following,  and,  in  process  of  time, 
grow  to  be  so  consecrated  by  custom  and  consent,  that  a  return  to  practices  theo- 
retically correct  would  seem  like  a  return  to  barbarism.  .  .  .  It  is  never  lan- 
guage in  itself  that  becomes  weak  or  corrupt :  it  is  only  when  those  who  use  it 
become  weak  or  corrupt,  that  it  shares  in  their  degradation,  ...  In  fact  it  is 
not  from  the  agencies  that  are  commonly  supposed  to  be  corrupting  that  our 
speech  at  the  present  time  suffers ;  it  is  in  much  more  danger  from  ignorant  efforts 


APPENDIX  209 

made  to  preserve  what  is  called  its  purity.  Rules  have  been  and  still  are  laid  down 
for  the  use  of  it,  which  never  had  any  existence  outside  of  the  minds  of  gramma- 
rians and  verbal  critics.  ...  It  cannot,  indeed,  be  laid  down  too  emphatically 
that  it  is  not  the  business  of  grammarians  and  scholars  to  decide  what  is  good 
usage.  Their  function  is  limited  to  ascertaining  and  recording  it.  This  can  only 
be  done  by  the  prolonged  and  careful  study  of  the  language,  as  it  has  been 
employed    by  its  best  authors. 

Professor    Lounsbury's     '*  English  Language" 
(pp.  183-187). 

Every  teacher  should  read  this  entire  chapter,  written  by  one  of  our 
greatest  authorities  upon  language  (Part  I,  Chapter  vili,  Modern  English, 
in  *'  History  of  the  English  Language,"  by  T.  R.  Lounsbury,  Professor 
of  English  in  Yale  University) .  To  harmonize  the  teaching  in  our  schools 
with  the  fundamental  tmths  taught  in  this  chapter  would  imply  a  revolu- 
tion in  our  modern  language  books. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  great  Elizabethan  age  indorses  an 
interchangeable  use  of  the  words  me,  thee,  us,  you,  him,  her,  them,  with 
the  corresponding  I,  thou,  we,  ye,  he,  she,  they.  This  is  not  shown  in 
the  corrected  modern  editions,  because  of  the  altered  text.  Modem 
grammarians  agree  in  condemning  ''  It  is  me,"  etc.,  yet  these  expressions 
have  the  authority  of  many  of  the  most  eminent  writers  of  English,  includ- 
ing Shakspere  and  most  of  the  great  group  among  whom  he  is  chief. 
Our  Bible  always  retains  the  ye  for  subject  forms.  "  Historically,"  Pro- 
fessor Lounsbury  says,  ''It  is  you"  is  as  incorrect  as  ''It  is  me;"  but 
we  have  not  objected  to  the  modern  substitution  of  you  for  ye^  while  we 
have  objected  to  the  substitution  of  me  for  /.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson 
(whose  verses  are  the  least  worthy  part  of  his  work)  in  his  "  Child's  Gar- 
den of  Verse ' '  frequently  uses  me  where  all  modern  grammarians  demand 
/,  after  the  Latin  analogy.  Now  one  thing  is  beyond  dispute:  either 
textbooks  must  cease  giving  these  poems  to  children  for  memorizing,  or 
else  must  cease  insisting  upon  the  foi-ms  "  It  is  I,"  etc.,  as  alone  correct. 
Thus  Stevenson  says:  "Are  you  a  beast  of  field  and  ti'ee.  Or  just  a 
stronger  child  than  me?  "  (xxv)  ;  "Don't  you  wish  that  you  were  me? " 
xxviii)  ;  "  Up' into  the  apple-tree  Who  should  climb  but  little  me?  "  But 
Cowper  says  similarly,  "Away  went  Gilpin,  who  but  he?"  and  Mrs. 
Hemans  says,  "Whence  all  but  he  had  fled ;  "  hence  we  need  to  consider 


210  EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 

who  is  right  and  who  is  wrong,  or  whether  both  forms  are  right.  Since 
our  own  Whittier  does  not  hesitate  to  say  (in  the  last  line  of  "  The  Maids 
of  Attiash,"  in  "  The  Tent  on  the  Beach"),  *'  Her  world  is  love  and  him," 
we  are  scarcely  warranted  in  spending  much  school  time  in  trying  to  stem 
the  tide  of  popular  usage. 

*'The  English  of  the  English,"  by  Julian  Ralph,  in  Harper* s  for 
August,  1901,  will  be  found  useful  in  illustrating  existing  differences  in 
American  and  British  usage.  If  listed  upon  the  board  in  parallel  columns, 
the  impression  made  will  be  deeper  and  more  lasting.  Once  made,  the 
list  should  be  presei-ved  for  occasional  additions  and  corrections  and  for 
frequent  reference. 

Seethe  following  articles  :  ''Americanisms  Once  More,"  by  Brander  Matthews, 
in  the  Cosmopolitan,  January,  1901 ;  ''  English  Language  in  America,"  by  the  same, 
in  /Scnftwer's,  March,  1901;  "Questions  of  Usage  in  Words,"  by  the  same,  in 
Harper's^  February,  1901 ;  '♦  The  American  Language,"  by  C.  Shipman,  in  the 
Critic^  January,  1900;  and  "Lax  Use  in  Speech,"  by  Gertrude  Darling,  in  Educa- 
tion, May,  1899.  The  articles  by  Brander  Matthews  are  also  in  "  Parts  of  Speech." 
See  also  ' '  The  Use  of  English  "  by  Richard  Burton  in  his  volume  of  Essays,  "Forces 
in  Fiction." 

Chapter  XXI.  P.  149.  Observe  that  we  cannot  always  absolutely 
separate  the  literal  from  the  figurative,  for  every  word  that  describes  our 
mind  life  once  belonged  exclusively  to  the  service  of  the  senses.  At  the 
last,  the  literal  meaning,  unrecognized  in  thought  and  speech,  may  sur- 
vive only  in  the  dictionary. 

The  limited  vocabulary  of  the  child  and  his  vivid  fancy  alike  impel 
him  to  original  figures  of  speech.  Hence  it  is  that  children  are  called 
unconscious  poets.  A  little  child  remarked,  unconsciously,  "Mamma,  you 
know  last  winter  was  very  mee/c."  Emily  Dickinson  in  one  of  her  charming 
poems  uses  the  same  figure  consciously.  How  careful  then  should  adults 
be  not  to  curb  or  "  con-ect "  the  original  turns  of  expression  used  by  chil- 
dren!  For  a  child  to  "talk  like  a  book"  means  that  his  thought  has 
taken  on  stereotyped  forms  of  speech  —  and  we  may  hope  little  more  for 
originality  in  him. 

P.  156.  Exercise  II.  Pupils  should  study  their  readers  or  any 
volume  of  good  poems,  looking  for  instances  of  the  figurative  use  of  any 
or  all  of  the  words  given. 


APPENDIX 


211 


Chapter  XXII.  P.  160.  Alice  Gary's  expression  for  the  crim- 
son-barred sky  of  early  morning  is :  "  The  white  vest  of  the  morning  with 
crimson  is  laced."     (From  '•  Morning.") 

When  the  mind  has  acquired  a  good  thinking  vocabulary,  a  lively 
fancy  will  spontaneously  use  figurative  language.  Until  such  use  is  easy 
and  natural,  it  is  not  desirable  to  try  to  secure  it. 

For  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  continued  figure  to  be  found  in 
American  literature,  study  Holmes'  "  Chambered  Nautilus,"  the  gem 
of  all  his  verse. 


POEMS  SUITABLE  FOR  PUPILS'  READING  OR  FOR  CLASS  STUDY 


*A  Psalm  of  Life 

The  Happiest  Land 

The  Skeleton  in  Armor 

The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus 

The  Luck  of  EdenhaU 

The  Village  Blacksmith 
*The  Rainy  Day 

Rain  in  Summer 
*The  Day  is  Done 

Walter  von  der  Vogelweid 
*The  Arrow  and  the  Song 
*Autumn 

The  Legend  of  the  Crossbill 
*The  Sea  Hath  Its  Pearls 
*  Poetic  Aphorisms 

Evangeline 

The  Building  of  the  Ship 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert 
*The  Builders 

The  Song  of  Hiawatha 

The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish 

The  Ladder  of  St.  Augustine 

*  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow 

The  Emperor's  Bird's-Nest 

My  Lost  Youth 

Santa  Filomena 

Daybreak 

The  Fiftieth  Birthday  of  Agassiz 

Children 

Sandalphon 

Paul  Revere's  Ride 

The  Legend  of  Rabbi  Ben  Levi 

King  Robert  of  Sicily 

The  Saga  of  King  Olaf 

The  Birds  of  Killingworth 

*The  Children's  Hour 
The  Cumberland 

*Snowflakes 

*  Christmas  Bells 

*Giotto's  Tower 

The  Bell  of  Atri 

k.      >- 

Kambalu 

The  Legend  Beautiful 
To  the  Stork 
*Santa  Teresa's  Book-Mark 


212 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


Charlemagne 
Elizabeth 

The  Monk  of  Casal-Maggiore 
*The  Brook  and  the  Wave 
The  Sermon  of  St.  Francis 


^Chaucer 
A  Dutch  Picture 

The  Revenge  of  Rain-in-the-Face 
The  Leap  of  Roushan  Beg 
The  Three  Kings 


The  Exiles 
Toussaint  I'Ouverture 
Dedication  (Songs  of  Labor) 
The  Ship-Builders 
The  Shoemakers 
The  Drovers 
The  Fishermen 
The  Huskers 
The  Corn-Song 
The  Lumbermen 
The  Angels  of  Buena  Vista 
♦Forgiveness 
The  Pumpkin 
Raphael 
The  HiU-top 
On  Receiving  an  Eagle's  Quill  from 

Lake  Superior 
The  Poor  Voter  on  Election  Day 
Kathleen 
The  Hermit  of  the  Thebaid 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier 

The  Barefoot  Boy 
The  Kansas  Emigrants 
The  Mayflowers 

The  Prophecy  of  Samuel  Sewall 
Skipper  Ireson's  Ride 
The  Truce  of  Piscataqua 
The  Pipes  at  Lucknow 
Kenoza  Lake 

Lines  for  an  Agricultural  Exhibi- 
tion 
Brown  of  Ossawatomie 
At  Port  Royal 
^Barbara  Frietchie 
Cobbler  Keezar's  Vision 
Snow-Bound 
The  Changeling 
Kallundborg  Church 
The  Dole  of  Jarl  Thorkell 
The  Two  Rabbis 
How  the  Robin  Came 


Contentment 
Old  Ironsides 
Th^  Last  Leaf 
Grandmother's  Story 
The  Broomstick  Train 
*The  Chambered  Nautilus 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 

The  Fountain  of  Youth 

The  Old  Man  Dreams 

The  Spectre  Pig 

The  Deacon's  Masterpiece 

The  Ballad  of  the  Oysterman 

How  the  Old  Horse  Won  the  Bet 


*  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full. 


APPENDIX 


218 


A  Ballad  of  the  Boston  Tea-Party 
The  Height  of  the  Ridiculous 
Lexington 


Centennial  Celebration  of  Harvard 
College,  1836     (A  Song) 


*To  a  Waterfowl 
Monument  Mountain 
The  Yellow  Violet 
The  African  Chief 
The  Strange  Lady 
Robert  of  Lincoln 
The  Hurricane 
Autumn  Woods 


Rhoecus 

The  First  Snowfall 

A  Chippewa  Legend 

The  Finding  of  the  Lyre 

Yussouf 

Dara 

The  Singing  Leaves 


William  Cullen  Bryant 

*The  Gladness  of  Nature 
*To  the  Fringed  Gentian 

Song  for  New  Year's  Eve 

The  Death  of  the  Flowers 

The  Planting  of  the  Apple-tree 

Sella 

The  Death  of  Slavery 

The  Forest  Hymn 
James  Russell  Lowell 

*The  Shepherd  of  King  Admetus 

The  Courtin'  (from  Biglow  Papers) 
♦Violet,  Sweet  Violet 

Aladdin 


The  Heritage 
*The  Fountain 
The  Fatherland 


The  Problem 
Each  and  All 

If  and  If 

The  Gray  Swan 
Balder's  Wife 
Abraham  Lincoln 

Our  Homestead 

The  Leak  in  the  Dyke 

The  Christmas  Sheaf 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 

The  Humble-Bee 
The  Snow- Storm 

Alice  Cary 

An  Order  for  a  Picture 
Morning  in  the  Mountains 
The  Field  Sweetbrier 
Poems  of  Nature  and  Home 

Ph<ebe  Cary 

Poems  of  Nature  and  Home 
Poems  for  Children 


*  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full. 


214  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Eugene  Field 
♦Garden  and  Cradle  Lullabies 

Nightfall  in  Dordrecht 

Other  American  and  Canadian  Poets 

Bennett,  Henry  Holcomb :  The  Flag  Goes  By. 

Burton,  Richard :  *  June  ;  The  Marshflower ;  Memorial  Day  ;  Bird  Notes — 

The  Lark,  The  Catbird,  The  Meistersinger,  The  Hummingbird,  *  The 

Bluebird,  The  Ground  Robin. 
Carmen,  Bliss  :    *  Marigolds  ;    *  Hack    and   Hew  ;    The   Dustman ;    The 

Nancy's  Pride. 
Colly er,  Robert :  Under  the  Snow. 
Dickenson,  Emily :  *  A  Day  ;  *  Autumn  ;  A  Word  ;  *  Perhaps  You'd  Like 

to  Buy  a  Flower. 
Drake,  Joseph  Rodman  :  The  Culprit  Fay  ;  *  The  American  Flag. 
Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence  :  Hymn ;  Corn-Song. 
Gilder,  Richard  Watson  :  *  When  to  Sleep  I  Must ;  *  Morning  and  Night ; 

*  Each  Moment  Holy  Is  ;  *  On  the  Wild  Rose  Tree. 
Greene,  Sally  Pratt  McLean :  De  Sheepfol'. 
Halleck,  Fitz-Greene :  Marco  Bozzaris. 
Harte,  Francis  Bret :  Madroiio. 
Hovey,  Richard :  The  Battle  of  Manila. 
Jackson,  Helen  Hunt:    Coronation;    September;    October's  Bright  Blue 

Weather. 
Lampman,  Archibald  :  *  The  Sweetness  of  Life  ;  *  The  Sun  Cup ;  After 

Rain  ;  March ;  The  Dog ;  Yarrow. 
Lanier,  Sidney :  Song  of  the  Chattahoochee. 
Larcom,  Lucy :  A  Strip  of  Blue. 
Miller,  Joaquin :  Columbus ;  Crossing  the  Plains. 
McMaster,  Guy  Humphreys :  Carmen  Bellicosum  (A  Song  of  War) . 
O'Hara,  Theodore :  The  Bivouac  of  the  Dead. 
Osgood,  Kate  Putnam :  Driving  Home  the  Cows. 
Pierpont,  John  :  Warren's  Address  to  the  American  Soldiers. 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan  :   *  The  Bells  ;  *  Annabel  Lee. 

*  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full. 


APPENDIX  215 

Read,  Thomas  Buchanan :  Sheridan's  Ride. 

Riley,  James  Whitcomb :  The  Hoosier  Folk-Child ;  The  Old  Man  and 
Jim  ;  The  Preacher's  Boy. 

Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence :  Kearney  at  Seven  Pines  ;  The  Hand  of  Lin- 
coln. 

Taylor,  Bayard  :  The  Quaker  Widow. 

Thaxter,  Celia  :  The  Sandpiper ;   May  Morning. 

Thompson,  Maurice :  A  Flight  Shot ;  An  Incident  of  War. 

Thoreau,  Henry  D.  :  *  Mist ;  The  Fisher's  Boy. 

Trowbridge,  J.  T. :  The  Vagabonds ;  Midwinter;  Midsummer. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry  M. :  An  Angler's  Wish ;   *  Four  Things. 

Weeks,  Robert  Kelley  :  A  Song  for  Lexington. 

Westwood,  Thomas  B. :  Little  Bell. 

Whitman,  Walt :  O  Captain  !  My  Captain ! 

English  Poets. 

Addison,  Joseph:  *  Hymn  (The  Spacious  Firmament  on  High). 

Allingham,  WUliam :  The  Fairy  Folk  ;  The  Bird ;  Robin  Redbreast. 

Arnold,  Matthew :  The  Forsaken  Merman ;  The  Neckan. 

Browning,  Elizabeth  Barrett :  The  Romance  of  the  Swan's  Nest. 

Browning,  Robert :  The  Pied  Piper ;  Incident  of  the  French  Camp. 

Burns,  Robert :  *  Bannockburn  ;  *  To  a  Mountain  Daisy. 

Campbell,  Thomas  :  The  Parrot. 

Cowper,  William :  Boadicea  ;  John  Gilpin's  Ride  ;  The  Cricket. 

Hemans,  Mrs.  Felicia:  The  Landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

Hood,  Thomas :  Flowei-s  ;  Ruth. 

Howitt,  Mary :  The  Fairies  of  the  Caldon  Low ;  The  Broom  Flower ;  The 

Spider  and  the  Fly. 
Hunt,  Leigh :  *Abou  Ben  Adhem. 

Ingelow,  Jean :  The  High  Tide  on  the  Coast  of  Lincolnshire ;  Persephone. 
Marston,  Philip  Bourke :  In  the  Garden. 
Procter,  Adelaide  :  Legend  of  Bregenz. 
Rossetti,  Christina :  The  Months ;  A  Pageant ;  Johnny ;  Milking  Time ; 

A  Christmas  Carol. 

♦  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full. 


216  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

Scott,  Walter :  Lochinvar ;  Allan- A-Dale  ;  Jock  of  Hazeldean ;  Marmion ; 
Lady  of  the  Lake. 

Southey,  Robert :  The  Battle  of  Blenheim  ;  How  the  Water  Comes  Down 
at  Lodore. 

Stevenson,  Robert  Louis:  Ticonderoga;  Christmas  at  Sea;  Heather  Ale  — 
A  Galloway  Legend. 

Tennyson,  Alfred :  *  Break,  Break,  Break ;  Ring  Out,  Wild  Bells ;  The 
Death  of  the  Old  Year ;  The  Owl ;  *  The  Brook ;  The  Charge  of  the 
Light  Brigade  ;  The  May  Queen  ;  *  Bugle  Song  ;  Morte  d' Arthur ; 
Sir  Galahad ;   ♦  The  Shell  (from  Maud) . 

Wolfe,  Charles  :  The  Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore. 

Wordsworth,  William :  The  Pet  Lamb  ;  We  Are  Seven ;  *  March  ;  ♦  Daf- 
fodils. 

Note  :  It  seems  almost  unfair  thus  to  select  certain  poems,  omitting  others 
equally  good ;  and  teachers  should  by  no  means  confine  themselves  to  this  list. 
Such  poems  should  always  be  chosen  for  study  as  appeal  to  the  individual  inter- 
ests of  the  class  in  hand,  whether  named  here  or  not.  American  and  English  litera- 
ture cannot  be  separated,  except  geographically  and  by  a  few  subtle  character- 
istics. Whatever  in  the  broad  field  of  literature  appeals  to  oneself  or  to  one's 
pupils  should  unhesitatingly  be  appropriated.  Children  may  well  be  encouraged 
also  to  commit  to  memory  the  words  of  many  classic  hymns.  See  page  223  for 
suggested  anthologies. 

*  Suggested  for  memorizing  in  full. 


APPENDIX  217 

IN  GENERAL 

FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS  CONCERNING  LANGUAGE  WORK 

I.  The  chief  end  of  the  study  of  language  is  the  mastery  of  our 
mother  tongue,  commonly  termed  command  of  language.  This  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  fluency.     To  this  end  we  need : 

1.  Many  words  suited  to  express  a  wide  range  of  noble  thought; 

2.  A  discriminating  knowledge  of  their  meanings  and  force  ; 

3.  Power  to  select  with  the  quickness  and  certainty  of  insight  the 
word  which  most  perfectly  embodies  the  thought. 

In  other  words,  the  first  aim  of  language  study  is  the  acquirement  of 
a  comprehensive  thinhing-vocdbidary ;  because,  clear  thinking  and  the 
unconscious  formulation  of  thought  are  conditioned  upon  familiarity  with 
words,  the  tools  of  thought. 

II.  All  language  work  is  valuable  that 

1.  Awakens  thought ; 

2.  Encourages  spontaneity ; 

3.  Arouses  love  of  beauty  in  nature  and  in  art  by  developing  imag- 
ination and  the  nobler  emotions. 

Conversely,  all  language  work  is  bad  that 

1.  Inhibits  original  thought; 

2.  Checks  or  discourages  spontaneity ; 

3.  Fails  to  give  scope  for  imagination  and  emotion,  because  of  the 
exaltation  of  the  letter  above  the  spirit.  ''  The  letter  killeth,  but  the 
spirit  giveth  life." 

III.  The  language  of  every  individual  is  the  direct  product  of  his 
environment,  and  is  chiefly  imitative. 

INCIDENTAL  HINTS  UPON  METHODS 

1 .  Purpose  of  this  Series.  The  end  sought  is  command  of  the  mother 
tongue  thru  vocabulary  gains,  the  spontaneous  expression  of  original 
thought,  and  interest  in  language  and  literature. 

The  object  of  the  opening  chapters  in  Book  I  is  to  arouse  interest  in 
the  subject,  and  by  no  means  to  teach  facts,  however  interesting.     Oral 


218  EVERYDAY   ENGLTSH 

discussion  and  summary  in  the  recitation  period  will  determine  whether 
the  points  made  have  been  thoroly  comprehended. 

The  time  to  be  spent  upon  each  chapter  will  vary  with  the  ever- varying 
elements  entering  into  teacher  and  class  alike,  of  previous  preparation, 
general  aptitude  for  English  study,  and  interest  in  the  special  subject 
treated. 

2.  Oral  Work  Essential.  Much  oral  work  should  precede  all  written 
work.  Emphasis  placed  on  written  work  before  the  child  has  acquired  a 
faiiiy  wide  thinking- vocabulary  inevitably  retards  his  development  in 
language.  See  any  volume  of  our  best  educational  reviews  or  magazines 
to  find  this  statement  reiterated  again  and  again  by  our  foremost  teachers 
of  literature  and  language. 

3.  Word  Exercises.  Continuity  and  review,  with  elasticity  in  each 
exercise,  are  features  so  important  that  it  would  seem  absurd  to  need  to 
emphasize  them.  A  continued  word  exercise  reviewed  and  added  to  from 
time  to  time  is  worth  a  dozen  not  scrutinized  after  the  first  writing. 
Every  word  exercise  in  language  should  be  so  elastic  as  to  fit  alike  the 
varying  abilities  of  the  dullest  and  of  the  brightest  pupils. 

4.  Mechanics  of  Composition.  These  belong  to  the  spelling,  the 
writing,  and  the  reading  lessons.  The  art  of  composition  is  over  and 
above  its  mechanical  execution,  with  which  it  has  in  fact  no  more  to  do 
than  it  had  in  the  days  when  punctuation,  capitalization,  and  fixed  spelling 
were  still  uninvented.  Shakspere  ignored  all  three.  Legitimate  language 
work  must  seek  perfection  in  form,  but  as  a  means  only,  never  as  an  end. 
In  the  ideal  school,  under  ideal  conditions,  children  may  doubtless  master 
the  mechanics  of  language  almost  unconsciously.  Our  crowded  city 
grades  present  their  own  unideal,  complex  problems,  and  specialization 
in  the  various  elements  of  literacy  becomes  necessary.  (See  the  quota- 
tion from  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Appendix,  Chapter  II.) 

In  language,  as  in  all  other  subjects,  ability  on  the  part  of  pupils  to 
read  silently  or  aloud  easily  and  well  is  the  indispensable  preparation  for 
definite  language  study.  Slow  and  backward  oral  readers  may  sometimes 
be  induced  to  read  aloud  at  home  five  or  ten  minutes  a  day,  and  will  find 
this  a  short  cut  to  the  desired  end.  Silent  reading  is  the  means  whereby 
the  pupil  must  get  the  greater  part  of  his  literature. 


APPENDIX  219 

Spelling  lessons  thoroly  and  judiciously  used,  with  some  dictation  work 
and  many  exercises  in  antonyms,  homonyms,  and  synonyms,  are  the 
rational  forerunner  and  companion  of  the  language  book.  Dictation^ 
except  as  an  exercise  in  spelling,  in  punctuation,  or  in  capitalization,  has 
no  place  in  legitimate  language  methods.  Dr.  J.  M.  Rice  has  conclu- 
sively proved  that  children  may  be  taught  to  spell  equally  well  with  or 
without  the  use  of  a  so-called  spelling  book.  This  granted,  convenience 
alone  recommends  the  use  of  the  time-honored  "  speller."  (See  The 
Forum,  April  and  June  numbers,  1897.) 

5.  Individual  Observation.  To  hunt  out  in  books  forms  of  usage 
and  special  topics  is  one  of  the  quickest  possible  means  toward  developing 
swift  perception,  wise  discrimination,  and  mental  grasp.  The  thing 
unconsciously  absorbed  is  often  of  the  greatest  ultimate  benefit. 

6.  Memoriter  Work.  Much  memoriter  work  of  the  right  sort  is 
always  to  be  sought  and  encouraged  in  all  ways  short  of  coercion ;  but 
memoriter  work  of  lesson  texts  is  the  refuge  of  the  weak  or  the  inexperi- 
enced teacher. 

7.  Myths  and  Morals.  Mythology,  folklore,  and  fairy  tales  are 
among  the  many  attractive  literary  fields  where  children  should  be  allowed 
to  rove  at  will.     Here,  again,  unconscious  absorption  is  highly  educative. 

Because  fairy  tales  originate  in  mythology  it  is  better  to  provide 
myths  than  fairy  tales.  Imagination,  rather  than  the  ethical  faculty,  is 
fed  by  the  myths,  whose  morals  usually  point  in  the  wrong  direction.  All 
good  teaching  is  necessarily  moral  teaching  ;  but  much  so-called  ' '  ethical " 
teaching  is  in  fact  immoral,  because  dishonest.  This  is  usually  the  case 
when  effort  is  made  to  pin  a  fancied  moral  upon  a  fairy  tale.  Thus  for 
example,  "angry,"  screaming,  scolding,  and  impertinent  little  wrens, 
whose  course  actually  illustrates  the  defeat  of  truth  and  right  by  means  of 
intrigue,  are  lauded  as  admirable  examples  of  sadly  abused  children  who 
did  not  "  put  up  with  everything  ;  "  and  the  plain  truth  told  them  by  the 
bear  is  called  an  "  insult."     Is  this  ''''pedagogics"? 

So,  too,  Robinson  Crusoe,  who  clings  to  the  rock  with  the  clutch  of 
instinctive  self-preservation,  had  just  as  much  "  presence  of  mind,"  and 
no  more,  than  a  cat  or  a  dog  would  have  had.  To  laud  him  for  "  cour- 
age" is  immoral  because  untrue.     These  two  cases  illustrate  the  vicious 


220  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

popular  fad  for  extracting  moral  maxims  from  an  unmoral  situation. 
The  moral  not  pointed  but  left  for  silent  absorption  is  the  one  that  will 
exert  most  powerful  influence  for  good. 

8.  Correlation.  To  "correlate"  history  and  geography  and  arith- 
metic with  language  work  proper  is  to  dull  the  esthetic  appreciation  of 
the  child.  Correlation  has  its  place  in  all  scientific  study,  but  correla- 
tion misunderstood  and  distorted  has  been  the  chief  foe  of  modern  lan- 
guage work.  While  good  literature  and  correct  English  may  well  aid  every 
other  subject  studied,  correlation  is  a  rule  that  does  not  work  to  advan- 
tage both  ways.  "Information  lessons"  of  every  possible  race  and 
complexion  have  so  long  falsely  been  dubbed  "language"  lessons,  that 
the  pedagogic  sense  at  last  often  ceases  to  recognize  the  true  nature  of 
these  mongrels. 

9.  Reproductioyi.  This  term  is  a  misnomer  and  the  method  should 
be  banished.  We  may  summarize,  and  memorize,  and  imitate,  and  even 
plagiarize;  but  "reproduction"  belongs  to  the  camera,  not  to  the  pen. 
All  good  literature  should  be  held  sacred  to  noble  ends  and  never  dese- 
crated or  distorted  to  serve  less  than  the  highest  purpose.  Horace  E. 
Scudder, —  to  name  one  authority  among  many  that  might  be  quoted, — 
condemned  the  modern  fad  for  attempted  reproductions,  and  said  that 
children  may  far  better  be  set  to  copying  word  for  word  the  whole  of  any 
story  from  literature,  rather  than  be  asked  to  tell  it  in  their  own  words. 
(See  the  Atlantic  Monthly^  February,  1894,  p.  260.) 

10.  "  Busy  Work.''  Language  papers  which  go  into  the  teacher's 
waste  basket  unread  are  the  most  indefensible  form  of  an  always  indefen- 
sible thing, —  the  so-called  "busy"  work  that  always  implies  the  exis- 
tence of  conditions  unfair  alike  to  teacher  and  to  pupil.  Some  excellent 
teachers  defend  even  this  practice,  because  of  "overpressure"  in  the 
school  program.  With  better  methods  in  language,  there  will  be  less 
suffering  to  pupil  and  to  teacher  from  overpressure. 

11.  Nature  Study.  *  Every  good  library  list  now  includes  a  wealth 
of  nature  study  material  upon  wood-folk  and  their  ways,  which  at  once 
appeals  to  the  natural  interests  of  children.  A  nature  study  diary  com- 
piled by  an  entire  school  and  its  teacher,  marking  the  spring  advent  of 
birds,  animals,  and  flowers,  recording  also  natural  phenomena  of  all  sorts, 


APPENDIX  221 

such  as  the  hatching  of  frogs'  eggs,  the  food  of  the  young,  etc.,  has  been 
a  highly  successful  feature  in  certain  places.  Such  a  device  depends  for 
success  less  upon  the  pupil's  interest  than  upon  skill  and  enthusiasm  in 
the  teacher ;  for  children  go  anywhere  and  everywhere  with  gladness  if  so 
be  that  their  leader  can  inspire.  Much  so-called  nature  study,  however, 
is  worse  than  a  waste  of  time,  because  not  founded  upon  genuine  obser- 
vation, and  hence  misleading.  The  ''nature  study"  which  classifies, 
dissects,  and  gives  terminology,  belongs  to  the  advanced  student,  and 
needs  a  scientist  as  director.  To  teach  the  name  tuber^  or  the  name 
annual^  is  not  nature  study,  even  tho  the  name  be  accompanied  by  the 
object  itself.  The  adaptation  of  the  forms  of  plants  and  of  animals  to 
their  respective  functions  is  a  legitimate  field  for  nature  study,  but  results 
are  always  measured  here  by  the  intelligence  and  specific  preparation  of 
the  teacher. 

The  kind  of  nature  study  which  develops  in  children  the  spirit  of 
Henry  D.  Thoreau,  John  Burroughs,  Olive  Thorne  Miller,  William  J. 
Long,  and  W.  Hamilton  Gibson,  is  the  best  of  all  possible  foundations 
for  development  also  in  language.  Children  who  have  learned  the  money 
value  of  toad,  or  bird,  or  lady-bug,  will  not  be  apt  to  destroy  these 
creatures.  Preston  W.  Search,  in  his  ''Ideal  School"  (D.  Appleton  & 
Company) ,  says  that  "it  is  no  wonder  the  life  of  a  common  toad  or 
frog  is  sacred  in  Worcester,  and  that  children  have  been  known  to  carry 
these  pets  a  mile  or  more  in  order  to  have  their  help  around  the  home." 

12.  'Epitome  of  Methods,  From  a  little  pamphlet  containing  within 
a  dozen  pages  an  epitome  of  the  whole  science  of  language  method,  I 
select  the  following  brief  hints  as  coming  from  one  privileged  to  speak 
with  authority : 

The  great  consideration  in  teaching  the  mother  tongue  is  to  provide  an  envi- 
ronment from  which  the  speech  may  be  absorbed.  .  .  .  Supply  matter  for 
thought  and  emotion,  awaken  curiosity  about  things  that  men  have  always  been 
inquisitive  about,  and  language  will  take  care  of  itself,  because  thought  and 
speech  are  inseparable.  .  .  .  This  learning  of  language  is  sure  to  go  on  with- 
out the  least  concern  for  it  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  All  the  teacher  can  do  for 
it  —  though  this  is  a  great  deal  —  is  to  secure  an  environment  of  abundant  intel- 
lectual and  emotional  interest.  The  sources  of  such  interest  are  infinite  in  num- 
ber and  crowd  upon  the  teacher  who  really  wants  them.    .    .    .    The  teacher  of 


222  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

English  is  always  inspecting  written  work,  listening  to  vocal  expression.  In  a 
certain  sense  he  is  perpetually  examining.  He  knows  every  day  just  where  he  is. 
Periodical  examinations,  therefore,  he  does  not  need,  and  could  not  profitably 
have.  A  young  reader  needs,  in  his  study  of  literature,  all  imaginable  conditions 
of  enjoyment.  The  purpose  of  literature  is  to  be  recreative  and  pleasurable.  To 
make  it  a  gymnastic  to  the  memory  is  to  ruin  it  as  literature,  and  convert  it  into 
something  ascetic,  something  teasing,  something  to  be  anxious  about  and  get 
marks  for.  Professing  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  good  reading,  we  go  about  to  cul- 
tivate a  distaste  for  it.  .  .  .  Examinationism  is  in  fact  a  disease,  now  having 
a  great  run  in  our  education.  .  .  .  No  part  of  the  conceivably  possible  scien- 
tific study  of  English  is  essential  to  the  practical  acquisition  of  English  speech. 
.  .  .  The  usual  mistake  is  made  in  putting  grammar  too  low  down  in  the 
course.  The  language  should  be  well  possessed  before  it  is  subjected  to  scientific 
study.  The  youth  should  not  be  troubled  with  grammatical  technique  till  he 
knows  enough  to  perceive  its  desirableness." 

Samuel  Thurber  in  "  Some  of  the  Main  Princi- 
ples of  Secondary  English  Teaching  " 

SPECIFIC  SUGGESTIONS 

1.  Wordbooks  and  Other  Helpers.  Whether  or  not  the  *' Helpers" 
prepared  to  accompany  this  Series  be  employed,  it  is  imperatively  neces- 
sary that  each  pupil  have  two  good-sized  blankbooks,  one  to  be  used  as 
wordbook  and  one  as  letter  diary.  Not  to  have  a  permanent  place  for 
exercises  means  a  result  less  than  the  best.  The  wordbooks  as  planned 
will  conserve  the  strength  of  the  pupil  by  making  continuous  the  efforts  of 
his  mind.  By  their  concise  and  convenient  forms,  they  will  tend  to 
induce  systematic  habits  of  thought  and  accuracy  of  expression.  Elastic 
as  to  quantity  and  quality,  they  aim  to  secure  the  maximum  of  result  with 
the  minimum  of  effort. 

Neatness,  legibility,  and  deliberation  are  the  three  things  to  be 
insisted  upon.  Pride  in  having  few  erasures  and  corrections  should  be 
stimulated.  The  pupil  who  does  not  fill  his  word  list  at  one  dash,  but 
waits  to  revise  in  class  so  as  to  have  finally  the  best  list  possible,  is  the 
one  who  will  become  an  artist  in  words.  For  the  teacher  herself  to  make 
a  wordbook,  keeping  it  parallel  in  progress  with  those  done  by  her  pupils, 
will  excite  much  interest  and  an  ambition  to  make  as  good  lists  as  hers. 
It  may  well  require  several  weeks  to  fill  satisfactorily  certain  of  the 
required  lists. 


APPENDIX  223 

2.  A  Heading  Table.  Every  schoolroom  should  contain  a  large, 
rather  low  table,  upon  vrhich  may  be  found  books  of  reference,  several 
interesting  books  of  litertiry  character,  and  if  possible  one  or  two  of  the 
best  periodicals.  All  these  should  be  freely  accessible  to  pupils  in  any 
spare  minutes  before  or  after  school  and  at  recess-time  in  bad  weather. 
For  a  school  as  a  whole  to  subscribe  for  St.  Nicholas  or  the  Youth's  Com- 
panion will  of  itself  often  give  an  added  impetus  to  the  cause  of  good 
English.  In  some  communities  a  supply  of  good  juvenile  books  might  be 
kept  up  by  contributions  from  the  homes  of  the  children.  The  thing 
chiefly  sought  is  the  silent  and  uplifting  influence  of  good  literature.  If 
a  table  is  impossible,  a  desk,  at  the  least,  should  always  be  consecrated  to 
the  service  of  the  all-important  dictionary.  To  stand  before  a  shelf  on 
the  wall  for  dictionary  study,  as  was  once  common,  is  physically  exhaust- 
ing as  well  as  inconvenient. 

3.  Anthologies  and  Scraphooks.  The  making  of  anthologies  of  every 
sort  appeals  to  children  quite  as  strongly  as  to  the  adult.  An  anthology, 
or  garland,  hence  a  collection  of  the  flowers  of  speech,  may  be  made  for 
any  season,  or  month,  or  flower  loved  of  poets ;  for  patriotism  and  cour- 
age, or  for  love  of  nature  and  of  God;  of  American  folklore;  of  Christ- 
mas carols  alone, —  in  short,  upon  any  subject  treated  in  poet  lore. 
Perhaps,  too,  the  work  gains  slightly  more  of  respect  when  dignified  under 
the  poetic  Greek  name  anthology.  At  the  very  least,  each  child  should 
compile  his  own  collection  of  "  memory  gems." 

The  time-honored  scrapbook,  compiled  from  bits  of  historical,  geogra- 
phical, biographical,  or  scientific  knowledge,  and  indexed,  is  highly 
educative.  Particularly  so  is  the  home-made  "  Who- When- What "  book, 
containing  the  faces  of  the  world's  great  ones,  with  a  few  lines  summar- 
izing the  life  and  works  of  each.  Every  schoolroom  should  have  its  own 
"  Who- When- What "  book,  and  every  pupil  may  well  have  one  also. 

4.  Typewriting.  Accurate  copying  by  means  of  the  typewriting 
machine  is  always  highly  educative,  and  wherever  a  typewriter  is  pro- 
vided for  a  building,  as  is  always  advisable,  its  use  may  well  be  a 
privilege  consequent  upon  excellence  in  spelling,  penmanship,  etc.  When- 
ever possible,  the  anthologies  and  scrapbook  notes  prepared  in  the  school- 
room for  use  of  pupils  should  be   accurately  typewritten.      The  use  of 


224  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

carbon  papers  makes  it  possible  to  secure  many  duplicates  of  all  short 
poems  wanted  for  study,  at  almost  no  expense  and  with  a  small  outlay  in 
time  and  strength. 

5.  Beading  by  the  Teacher.  Ten  minutes'  reading  aloud  by  the 
teacher  from  some  excellent  story  book  at  beginning  of  sessions  will 
often  put  pupils  into  good  humor  and  discourage  tardiness ;  or,  at  the  end 
of  sessions,  will  send  pupils  home  with  something  pleasant  and  helpful  to 
think  about. 

For  this  reading  to  the  school,  any  of  the  following  may  be  especially 
recommended:  ''The  Merry  Adventures  of  Robin  Hood,"  by  Howard 
Pyle ;  Kipling's  "  Jungle  Book  Stories,"  or  his  "  Captains  Courageous  ;  " 
Seton- Thompson's  "Wild  Animals  I  Have  Known,"  or  others  of  his 
animal  stories  ;  Sidney  Lanier's  ''  The  Boys'  King  Arthur  ;  "  Alfred  Olli- 
vant's  "Bob,  Son  of  Battle";  Baldwin's  "Golden  Age,"  and  "Story 
of  Siegfried  ;  "  Hawthorne's  "  Wonder  Book,"  "  Tanglewood  Tales,"  and 
"Grandfather's  Chair;"  Kingsley's  "Greek  Heroes"  and  "Water 
Babies ; "  Guerber's  Wagnerian,  Rhine,  and  other  myths ;  Ruskin's 
"King  of  the  Golden  River."  The  cycle  of  Welsh  folklore  tales 
relative  to  King  Arthur  and  of  English  folklore  tales  concerning 
Robin  Hood  should  early  become  intimately  known  to  children.  The 
merry  adventures  of  Robin  Hood  can  never  grow  stale  to  young  or  to 
old,  and  are  the  perennial  source  of  innocent  laughter.  However,  anyone 
who  expects  these  tales  to  furnish  convenient  pegs  whereon  to  hang  so- 
called  "moral"  maxims,  will  be  grievously  disappointed. 

With  a  teacher  of  exceptional  literary  ability,  and  with  a  class  of 
pupils  who  have  had  very  exceptional  training  and  environment  as  regards 
vocabulary,  it  is  not  impossible  that  Bryant's  "Iliad"  and  "Odyssey" 
might  be  read  aloud  and  discussed  part  by  part  with  delight  to  all  con- 
cerned. But  such  an  experiment  would  end  in  disaster,  lacking  skill, 
inspiration,  and  much  literary  preparation  on  the  part  of  the  teacher. 

Whatever  is  selected,  however,  for  reading  aloud,  this  precious  time 
should  be  held  sacred  to  the  masters  of  literature  and  never  wasted  on 
ephemeral  trash  that  a  dozen  years  hence  will  be  uncalled  for  upon 
library  shelves.  With  forty  pupils  one's  opportunity  in  reading  aloud 
means  forty  opportunities  to  influence  and  inspire. 


APPENDIX  226 

6.  Pictures  and  Mythology.  As  to  the  work  possible  with  pictures, 
time  and  space  alone  limit  the  obvious  suggestions.  With  Perry  pictures 
at  one  cent  each,  and  with  the  better  photographs  not  at  all  expensive, 
delightful  hours  by  the  score  may  be  arranged  upon  art  and  upon 
mythology.  A  day  with  Apollo,  with  Minerva,  with  Mars,  with  any  god 
or  hero  of  mythology,  gives  results  the  more  valuable  in  proportion  to  the 
originality  of  the  special  program.  In  the  miscellaneous  portion  of  the 
woodbooks,  a  page  or  two  may  well  be  kept  solely  for  epithets  applied  in 
literature  to  gods,  goddesses,  and  heroes.  As  these  come  gradually 
before  the  pupils'  eyes,  every  such  epithet  should  be  cited,  including  its 
exact  location  by  line,  with  title  of  selection,  and  the  name  of  author. 
There  is  no  better  and  surer  way  of  learning  the  attributes  of  the  char- 
acters of  mythology,  for  what  one  finds  out  for  one's  self  is  longest  remem- 
bered. In  some  schools,  children  will,  with  very  little  assistance,  plan 
and  carry  out  their  own  art  programs  or  mythological  programs  in  an 
admirable  manner.  An  art  program  upon  Raphael,  for  example,  arranged 
by  a  school  and  supplemented  by  pictures  by  Raphael  alone,  with  discus- 
sions and  explanations  of  these,  previously  prepared,  will  be  worth  a 
dozen  programs  cut  and  dried  to  order  by  some  strange  hand.  Here,  as 
everywhere,  at  the  root  of  the  question  of  method  lies  the  ever-dominant 
Doctrine  of  Interest. 

Mrs.  William  E.  Thompson,  of  Hamline,  Minnesota,  chairman  of  the 
art  committee  of  the  Minnesota  State  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  kindly 
contributes  the  following  suggestions  for  teachers  using  this  book : 

*'  You  have  rare  opportunities  to  cultivate  in  your  children  a  love  for 
pictures.  Your  object  may  be  to  create  in  them  a  taste  for  the  beautiful 
and  that  which  is  elevating,  or  to  interest  them  in  the  subjects  which  the 
pictures  illustrate. 

"The  lack  of  sufficient  space  in  a  schoolroom  and  the  expense  of 
large  pictures  preclude  the  idea  of  illustrating  any  special  school  or  period 
of  art  by  means  of  framed  wall  pictures.  If  this  could  be  done,  such  a 
large  number  on  the  walls  would  not  be  decorative  nor  restful,  and  would 
not  conform  to  the  dictates  of  good  taste.  A  few  of  the  very  best  pic- 
tures to  decorate  the  schoolroom,  and  in  addition  to  these,  portfolios  of 
smaller  ones,  arranged  in  periods  to  illustrate  the  great  epochs  in  art,  so 


226  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

that  they  may  be  temporarily  huug  upon  the  wall  and  talked  about,  would 
be  the  ideal  way  to  cultivate  in  children  a  taste  for  good  art  and  a 
knowledge  of  its  history. 

**  The  history  of  art  is  so  comprehensive  and  so  difficult  to  master,  that 
it  is  important,  if  possible,  to  select  from  one  particular  school,  or  period, 
or  country  ;  and  such  selections  for  study  should  be  made  as  best  show  the 
distinguishing  characteristics  of  the  artist.  When  one  period,  as  the 
Golden  Age,  for  instance,  is  thoroughly  fixed  in  the  mind,  it  is  easy  to 
group  the  others  around  it. 

*' Pictures  may  be  obtained  from  the  A.  W.  Elson  Company,  the 
Soule  Company,  the  Moulton  Company,  all  of  Boston ;  from  the  J.  C. 
Witter  Company,  New  York  City ;  from  the  Perry  Pictures  Company, 
Maiden,  Mass.,  and  from  many  other  firms.  The  Elson  and  the  Perry 
pictures  seem  to  be  selected  with  the  best  taste  and  the  greatest  knowl- 
edge of  art.     The  classification  is  best  in  the  Perry  catalogue." 

7.  Special  Programs.  Where  interest  in  the  subject  warrants,  an 
afternoon  a  month  may  in  some  schools  profitably  be  given  to  the  pupils,  for 
programs  made  up  from  reports  upon  the  results  of  observation  in  nature 
study,  or  upon  any  department  of  school  work  where  interest  has  centered. 
Such  a  program  depends  for  its  value  —  like  the  author's  program,  the 
patriotic,  the  season,  the  dialect,  or  the  ballad  program  —  upon  the 
amount  of  original  work  put  into  its  preparation  by  the  pupils. 

SCHOOL  LIBRARIES  AND  PUPILS'  READING 

No  school  need  be  long  without  a  modest  library,  since  cheap  editions 
at  least  are  now  within  the  reach  of  all.  In  selecting  books,  those  that 
are  written  down  to  children  should  be  avoided.  The  so-called  "juveniles" 
have  had  their  vogue  and  are  now  wisely  considered  a  feature  of  the  past. 
Kate  Douglas  Wiggin  states  her  endorsement  of  some  one  else  who  said, 
"What's  the  use  of  adapting  the  classics  to  children,  when  the  children 
are  already  adapted  to  the  classics  ? "  Kingsley,  Bryant,  Longfellow, 
Hawthorne,  Irving,  Morris,  Lamb,  Plutarch,  and  the  rest,  tell  their  own 
stories  with  sufficient  simplicity,  ease,  and  power.  Dickens  and  Scott 
and  Cooper  and  Stevenson  will  prevail  as  storj^-tellers  over  all  less  force- 
ful narrators.     As  regards  poetry  acceptable  to  boys,  the  epic  quality 


APPENDIX  227 

appeals  to  the  heroic  element  in  nascent  man,  and  nothing  surpasses 
Scott's  "Marmion"  and  ''Lady  of  the  Lake,"  Macaulay's  "Horatius" 
and  "  Ivry,"  and  similar  narratives  in  verse.  (An  excellent  collection  is 
Montgomery's  "  Heroic  Ballads,"  published  by  Ginn  &  Company.)  Poems 
chosen  for  intennediate  pupils  should  usually  include  much  narration. 
Remember  that  all  books  good  for  children  possess  the  remarkable  quality 
of  being  interesting  to  adults  also. 

Graded  lists  of  desirable  books  for  the  use  of  children  are  published 
by  many  state  officials,  by  some  school  boards,  and  by  the  educational 
committees  of  many  organizations.  Such  a  list,  prepared  by  the  educa- 
tional committee  of  the  Minnesota  Federation  of  Women's, Clubs,  can  be 
had  free  of  charge  by  application  to  Miss  Isabel  Lawrence,  Normal 
School,  St.  Cloud,  Minn.  Articles  upon  children's  reading  and  children's 
books  appear  frequently  in  our  best  periodicals,  and  are  often  highly 
valuable  in  their  suggestive  hints.  (See  "  Boys  and  Girls  in  the  Public 
Library,"  St,  Nicholas,  July?  1901 ;  also  "  Reading  for  Children,"  by 
Hamilton  Wright  Mabie,  in  Child-Study  Monthly,  May,  1897 ;  also 
ai-ticle  by  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin  in  Outlook,  Dec.  7,  1901). 

Every  library  should  include  one  or  more  of  the  best  anthologies, 
such  for  example  as  Stedman's  "  Anthologies"  (Victorian  and  American, 
2  vols.),  Bryant's  "  Library  of  Poetry  and  Song,"  "  Open  Sesame"  (3 
vols.),  "Heroic  Ballads,"  Percy's  "  Reliques,"  "The  Listening  Child," 
the  Riverside  Literature  Series,  Whittier's  "  Child  Life  in  Poetry  and 
Prose,"  the  Eclectic  School  Readers,  etc.  Many  of  the  excellent  literary 
readers  now  published  by  our  leading  book  houses  supply  valuable  matter 
in  both  prose  and  verse. 

No  amount  of  compulsion  as  to  books  assigned  for  reading  will  insure 
literary  appreciation  in  the  pupil.  But  the  silent  and  powerful  influence 
of  the  best  writers  will  do  its  own  work  unaided,  if  but  these  have  a 
chance  to  speak  freelj^  to  their  legitimate  audience.  Pupils  should  handle 
freely  the  books  in  school  libraries,  and,  gleaning  here  and  there,  will 
gradually  acquire  good  taste  in  selection.  Some  teachers  keep  one  shelf 
marked  "Voluntary  Reading,"  where  only  the  very  best  books  are 
admitted.  To  lock  up  books  or  to  shut  them  up  behind  glass  doors  is  to 
deprive  them  of  their  right  to  the  best  possible  chance  for  free  circulation. 


228  EVERYDAY  ENGLISH 

To  require  all  children,  in  class  or  out,  to  do  uniform  reading  is  not 
desirable.  Irving's  ''Tales  of  a  Traveler"  may  appeal  to  one  child; 
George  William  Curtis'  "  Sir  Philip  Sidney"  to  another;  Scott's  "Tales 
of  a  Grandfather"  to  a  third;  and  Hawthorne's  "Grandfather's  Chair" 
to  a  fourth ;  but  the  next  child  may  eschew  all  these  and  demand  Kipling 
or  Seton-Thompson.  Short  selections  culled  by  individual  pupils  from 
the  various  books  they  are  silently  reading  would  make  profitable  oral 
reading  lessons. 

In  no  subject  so  absolutely  as  in  language  will  the  progress  of  the 
pupil  depend  upon  the  literary  equipment  of  the  teacher.  Fortunately, 
literary  culture  is  a  thing  possible  to  every  earnest  student,  even  though 
he  must  be  self-taught.  From  the  lowest  utilitarian  standpoint,  literary 
culture  confers  more  advantages  and  certainly  brings  more  happiness 
than  does  any  amount  of  mathematical  skill  or  geographical  knowledge. 
Hence,  no  other  lesson  should  ever  trespass  upon  the  ail-too- short  language 
period. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  day  will  soon  come  when  complete  volumes  of  our 
standard  poets  and  essayists  and  historians  shall  be  available  as  reading 
books  in  our  classrooms,  with  frequent  reference  to  the  choice  of  pupils 
in  determining  what  shall  be  read  in  class.  The  child,  old  or  young,  does 
best  work  when  "given  his  head."  Books  are  the  legitimate  field  for  his 
play- work.     Wordsworth  spoke  for  all  time  when  he  said  : 

Books,  we  know, 
Are  a  substantial  world,  both  pure  and  good ; 
Round  these,  with  tendrils  strong  as  flesh  and  blood, 
Our  pastime  and  our  happiness  will  grow. 


abbreviations,    use    of,   93-100,    201 ; 

abuse  of,  97,  201. 
amber,  use  of  the  word,  158. 
Andrist,  Carl,  187. 
animals,  languasje  of,  4,  188  (dogs,  4, 

5;  parrots,  5,  6,  188). 
anthologies,  200,  223. 
apostrophe,  use  of,  111-116,  205. 
art,  studies  in,  225. 
articles,  the,  a,  and  an,  use  of,  142. 
authors  and  authorities : 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey,  163. 

Ascham,  Roger,  23. 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  189. 

Bourdillon,  Francis  W.,  159. 

Browning,  Robert,  160. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  110,  128, 
132,  168,  169. 

Burns,  Robert,  169. 

Burton,  Richard,  29,  82,  165. 

Byron,  Lord,  152. 

Carew,  Thomas,  162. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  167. 

Cowper,  William,  47. 

Dekker,  Thomas,  60. 

Dickens,  Charles,  115. 

Dodge,  N.  S.,  7. 

Drake,  Joseph  Rodman,  159. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  92,  156. 

Gale,  Harlow,  9,  187. 

Garland,  Hamlin,  170. 

Glimpses  of  the  Animate  World 
5,  6. 

Green,  Richard  Henry,  80. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  189. 

Helping  a  Friend,  5. 

Herrick,  Robert,  80. 

Higginson,  Thomas   Wentworth 
26. 


i:^rDEX 

authors  and  authorities,  continued: 
Hunt,  Leigh,  47,  167. 
Ingelow,  Jean,  165,  166. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  88. 
Judge,  12. 
Keats,  John,  167. 
Keller,  Helen,  16,  18. 
Kipling,  Rudyard,  53,  59. 
Lamb,  Charles,  30. 
Lamb,  Mary,  10. 
Lampman,  Archibald,  164. 
Liddell,  Mark  H.,  188. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  89, 
Longfellow, Henry  Wadsworth,75. 
Lounsbury,  T.  R.,  205,  206,  207, 

208,  209. 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  202. 
Markham,  Edwin,  165. 
Marston,  Philip  Bourke,  32. 
Matthews,  Brander,  122. 
Miller,  William,  62. 
Nairne,  Lady,  61, 
Osgood,  Frances  Sargent,  19, 
Peabody,  Josephine  Preston,  13.    ^ 
Pearson,  Charles,  80. 
Pepys,  Samuel,  70. 
Prior,  Matthew,  48. 
Read,  Thomas  Buchanan,  106. 
Rossetti,  Christina  G.,  164,  170. 
Scott,  Walter,  58. 
Shakspere,  William,  59,  60,  161. 
Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  55. 
Sigourney,  Lydia  H.,  36. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  153. 
Talking  Birds  and  Their  Ways,  5. 
Tennyson,  Alfred,    74,    101,    135, 

152,  168,  170. 
Thurber,  Samuel,  199. 


Holland,  Josiah  Gilbert,  136,  166. 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  53,97,99. 


Volta  Bureau,  19. 
Wordsworth,  William,  108,  170. 


229 


230 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


Bridgeman,  Laura,  189. 

can,  could,  129,  130. 

capitalization,  22,  25,  40,  41,  194. 

carriage,  special  terms  for,  46,  49,  50. 

causatives,  125-127,  207. 

Charles,  meaning,  forms,  etc.,  84,  193. 

cipher  code,  188. 

colloquial,  defined,  58. 

composition  work,  198-200;  mechanics 
of,  218. 

contractions,  113,  201. 

copying,  as  an  exercise,  191. 

correlation,  220. 

criticism,  should  be  encouraging,  198, 
private,  199,  200. 

deaf-mutes,  3,  16,  188,  189. 

description,  53,  77-79,  103-106,  198. 

dictionary,  use  of,  22,  23,  114,  121, 
206 ;  reference  to,  46,  47. 

diminutive^  defined,  33. 

Domesday  Bool^,  78. 

don't  and  doesn't,  discussion  upon,  114, 
203. 

English  language,  a  world  language, 
190. 

English  teaching  in  Germany  compul- 
sory, 190. 

enumeration,  defined,  53. 

epithets,  151. 

errors  in  speech,  137-143,  207,  208. 

fairy-tales,  derived  from  myths,  224. 

fall,  fell,  125-127. 

feudal  system,  201. 

figures  of  speech,  151,  157-162,  210, 
211 ;  faded  figure,  154  ;  knowledge 
necessary  to  understand,  159. 

folklore,  43,  194. 

games,  52,  196,  197. 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  23,  190. 

Haroun  al  Raschid,  193. 

Indian  names,  exercises  upon,  31,  32, 
36. 

Keller,  Helen,  15-19,  189. 

language,  as  thought  machinery,  188; 


language,  beauty  in,  comes  from  fig- 
ures, 151 ;  change  and  growth  in  a 
living,  20,  21,  23,  121,  122,  143, 
205,  208,  209  ;  chief  use  of,  14, 122  ; 
evolution  of,  3,  187 ;  law  of,  20, 
22,  114;  our  duty  toward,  121; 
skillful  use  of,  162. 

language  work,  aim  of,  217;  impor- 
tance of  reading  well,  218;  oral 
should  precede  written,  218  ;  place 
of  spelling  in,  219. 

lay,  lie,  125-127. 

learning  to  read,  189. 

letter  diary,  65-73,  198,  199. 

letter  writing,  83-90 ;  business  letters, 
86 ;  friendly  letters,  84,  201 ;  hints 
on,  86,  87 ;  invariable  rule  for,  84  ; 
social  notes,  86. 

libraries,  school;  suggestions  upon, 
226-228. 

literal  and  figurative  language,  150- 
154,  160,  162,  210,  211. 

literature  in  the  schoolroom,  223. 

lullabies,  57-63,  197. 

marks,  not  a  test,  199. 

may,  might,  use  of,  129,  130. 

memorizing,  56,  57. 

memoriter  work,  219. 

methods,  suggestions  upon,  217-228; 
Thurber  quoted  on,  221. 

mine,  in  nicknames  Ned,  Nan,  etc.,  35. 

Mother  Goose,  57,  58. 

mythology,  225. 

names,  baptismal,  191,  193;  class,  in- 
dividual, and  proper,  40-43,  191, 
194;  general  and  special,  45-48, 
195;  Indian,  192;  place,  192;  sur- 
names, 191,  192. 

nature  study,  220. 

nice,  defined,  132. 

niceties  of  speech,  129-135. 

nicknames,  33,  35,  193. 


INDEX 


231 


obsolete,  defined,  22. 

o/ relation,  the,  112. 

Olerich,  Viola,  2,  187. 

paragraphing,  67,  74. 

parts  and  materials,  51-54,  197. 

periodicals  named  or  cited  : 

Atlantic  Monthly,  26,  93,  189,  220. 

Blackwood's,  192,  200. 

Bookman,  26,  122. 

Catholic  World,  192. 

Century,  26,  93,  122. 

Chautauquan,  192. 

Chicago  Record,  89. 

Child-Study    Monthly,    187,    191, 
197,  200,  227. 

Cosmopolitan,  210. 

Critic,  210. 

Current  Literature,  192. 

Eclectic  Magazine,  207. 

Education,  207,  210. 

Forum,  219. 

Harper's,  25,  122,  191,  210(2). 

International  Magazine,  207. 

Living  Age,  207. 

Nation,  26. 

New  York  Evening  Post,  191. 

New  York  Sun,  188. 

North  American  Review,  25. 

Open  Court,  188. 

Outlook,  26,  93,  189,  227. 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  26,  187. 

Scribner's  Magazine,  25,  93,  210. 

St.  Nicholas,  25,  26,  223.  227. 

Wisconsin  Journal  of  Education, 
205. 

Youth's  Companion,  16,  173. 
Philomel,  197. 
pictures,  use  of,  225,  226. 
picture  words  and  word  pictures,  102- 

108,  202;  in  Eugene  Field's  poem, 

151 ;  specific  words  make  pictures, 

103. 
poem-study,  a,  76, 


poems,  list  of  suggested,  211-216. 
Poet  of  Lullabies,  Eugene  Field,  The, 

62. 
poetical  selections  and  extracts  : 

American  Flag,  The,  Drake,  159. 

Appreciation,  Higginson,  163. 

Bill  and  Joe,  Holmes,  97. 

Birthday  Week,  The,  42,  43. 

Boys,  The,  Holmes,  99. 

Calendar,  A,  42. 

Chill  Night,  A,  Rossetti,  164. 

Choosing  a  Name,  Lamb,  10. 

Christmas  Carol,  A,  Rossetti,  170. 

Christmas  Carol,  A,  Holland,  166. 

Christmas  Carol,  Old  English,  79. 

Christmas  Tide,  Burton,  82. 

Closing  Scene,  The,  Read,  106. 

Cloud,  The,  Shelley,  55. 

Death  of  the  Old  Year,  Tennyson, 
101. 

Divided,  Ingelow,  166. 

Don  Juan,  Byron,  152. 

Eagle,  The,  Tennyson,  170. 

Elaine,  Tennyson,  152. 

Exit  Nightingale,  Burton,  29. 

Flower    in    the    Crannied    Wall, 
Tennyson,  168. 

Forbearance,  Emerson,  92. 

Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket,  The, 
Hunt,  167. 

Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket,  The, 
Keats,  167. 

How  They  Named  the  Baby,  Judge, 
12. 

Hymn  in  the  Vale  of  Chamouny, 
Coleridge,  167. 

Indian  Names,  Sigourney,  36. 

Invitation   to   the   Country,  The, 
Bryant,  110. 

John  Gilpin's  Ride,  Cowper,  47. 

Joy  of  the  Morning,  The,  Mark- 
ham,  165. 

King  John  and  the  Abbot  of  Can- 
terbury, Old  English,  143. 

Lullaby,  Dekker,  60. 


232 


EVERYDAY   ENGLISH 


poetical  selections  and  extracts,  co7i- 
tinued : 

Lullaby,  Holland,  136. 
Lullaby,  The  Seal's,  Kipling,  59. 
Lullaby,  Nairne,  61. 
Lullaby  to  Titania,  Shakspcre,  59. 
Lullaby,  Tennyson,  58. 
March,  Bryant,  169. 
McAudrew's    Hymn,  Kipling,  53. 
Meadow  Lark,  The,  Garland,  170. 
New  and  the  Old ,  The,  Bryant,  128. 
Night  Has  a  Thousand  Eyes,  The, 

Bourdillon,  159. 
Norman  Baron,  The,  Longfellow, 

75. 
Ode,  Wordsworth,  170. 
On  His  Family  Name,  Lamb,  30. 
One-Hoss  Shay,  The,  Holmes,  63. 
Painted  Cup,  Bryant,  168. 
Poet  to  the  Cloud,  The,  Burton, 

165. 
Prairies,  The,  Bryant,  169. 
Prelude,  Peabody,  13. 
Reaper,     The     Solitary,     Words- 
worth, 168. 
Reassurance,  A,  Lampman,  164. 
Rhodora,  The,  Emerson,  156. 
Roses'  Song,  Marston,  32. 
Song      from      "  Pippa     Passes," 

Browning,   160. 
Song,    Hark,    Hark,     the     Lark, 

Shakspere,  161. 
Songs  of  Seven,  Ingelow,  165. 
Snowing     of     the     Pines,     The, 

Higginson,  26. 
Spring,  Carew,  162. 
Sweet  is  the  Rose,  Spenser,  153. 
Thanatopsis,  Bryant,  133. 
Up  in  the  Morning  Early,  Burns, 

169. 
What  They  All  Did,  51. 
Willie  Winkle,  Miller,  62. 
Winter,  Tennyson,  74. 
Violet,  The  Yellow,  Bryant,  168. 
programs,  special,  226. 
prose  selections  and  extracts  : 

Christmas  Carol,  Dickens,  116. 
Coaches,  Essay  on.  Hunt,  47. 
Composition  Work,  Thurber,  191. 
Conferring  Baptismal  Names,  199. 
Constructive  Impulse,  197. 


prose    selections    and    extracts,    con- 
tinued : 

English  Spelling,  Lounsbury,  205. 

Helen  Keller's  Diary,  18, 

Helen  Keller's  Story,  16 

Helping  a  Friend,  4. 

Letter,  Jeflerson,  88. 

Letter,  Lincoln,  89. 

Letter;  extract.  Lamb,  152. 

Parts  of   Speech,  Matthews,  122. 

Pepys'  Diary,  70. 

Shall  and  Will,  Lounsbury,  207. 

Schoolmaster,  The,  Ascham,  23. 

Talking  Birds  and  Their  Ways,  5. 
punctuation,  22,  25. 
quote,  a,  201. 
Ragnhild,  Kaata,  17. 
rais-i,  rise^   125-127. 
reading,  reading  aloud  as  method,  196, 

224;  reading  table,  importance  of , 

223;  suggestions  upon,  226-228. 
reproduction,  220. 
Sc  )ttish  dialect,  61-64,  197. 
scrapbooks,  223 
Sit,  sit,    125-127. 
8%riU,  should,  130-134,  207. 
sign  language,  2,  8,  187,  188. 
speech,  habit  of  correct,  137,  in  young 

children,    1,9,  188 ;  oral  precedes 

written,  118. 
spelling,    118-123,  205,  206;  becoming 

more    simple   and    uniform,    120, 

122,     123;    necessary   to    written 

English,  121 ;  no  fixed  law  of,  122, 

123;    reforms    in  by  Government 

and  N.  E.  A.,  119. 
sweet,  use  of  the  word,  152-154. 
synonyms,  defined,  22. 
teachers'  helps  in  language  work,  192. 
typewriting,  use  of,  223. 
usage,  22,  ^84-86,  94-97,  111-115,  137- 

142,  161,  208-210. 
vocabulary,  of  child  of  twelve  years, 

of  twenty-four  months,  of  thirty 

months,  1 ;  of  young  children,  187, 

188  ;  purify  and  enlarge  one's  own, 

121,  195,  200,  217. 
Volapiik,  120. 
wassail,  78. 

will,  toould,  130-134,  207. 
wordbooks,  use  of,  31,  222 


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